Meet the Sohmas
by LillyEvansLovesLevi
Summary: Annabelle Thompson moved from the United States to Japan with her mother, brother and abusive father. When she snaps at a certain powerful Sohma, he makes it his priority to get her to do whatever he says and goes great lengths to make it happen. After he does, a certain male from Anna's past comes out of the shadows to torment her. Well what now, Akito? Will you save her? Akito/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Lilly! I'm usually a very happy and upbeat person soo yeah! But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter! I was gonna post this sooner, but I wanted five chapters to be done first. So here it is! Make sure to follow, favorite and review!**

* * *

 _I hate school, everyone there's gonna jump on me for being the new girl, not to mention a foreigner._

Walking down the street, I had to pull my school skirt down.

 _Dad got mad at me for talking back again.._

My name is Annabelle Thomson. My parents moved here a month ago from New York because some big company or whatever decided to hire my dad for a well paying job. Of course, he jumped at it, not even caring about what my mom, brothers and I thought. My twin brother, Jake, was walking beside me. He was spotting himself a black eye, which I helped hide with my concealer. I got pretty good at using make up after my dad started abusing me at the age of fourteen. He was one of the unfortunate people that got laid off by GE. He came home pissed, and took it out on me. That was when it all started.

Jake didn't really know what else to do, so he always ended up getting just as hurt as I was trying to defend me. He was a good brother like that. My mom, bless her soul, is too kind-hearted to leave my dad. My younger brother, Derek, was only four when it all started, too young to even know what was going on.

My dad never touched Derek, and never raised a hand to Jake, either. It was when Jake stepped in to stop the man that my dad swung at him or kicked him when he got in the way of me. I didn't exactly know why the man hated me so much, but it seemed that he couldn't be cruel to anyone but.. me.

"So how's your leg?" Jake asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. I ran my fingers through my long, red hair, my baby blue eyes staring at my leg. Jake and i were very similar looking, same deep red hair, same baby blues.

"It's fine, I guess. Still sore, though." I said. Jake gave me a sorry look and I shook my head. "Don't give me that look. You took the worst of it, I should be asking _you_ if you're okay." Or conversation ended at that, Jake not wanting to comment any further. He was quiet like that, and it made me uncomfortable sometimes. Though, this time I was okay with it.

I'm now 17 years old, a third year in high school, along with Jake. It's been a rough three years for my whole family. My dad didn't give the rest of my family the news of us moving to Japan, we just up and left. Luckily, my mom was an interpreter for Japanese officials and celebrities when she was younger, and still did it from time to time. My siblings and I knew as much Japanese as we did English by the time we were five.

We finally reached the school we'd be going to from now on until we graduate. We walked through the front doors of the school, looking to find our classes, other students around us cheering if they find out they have their friends in their class.

"We're not in the same class, that's weird. They always paired us up together in New York." Jake said. I turned on my positivity switch.

"Hey! Look on the bright side, our classes are _right_ next to each other!"

"Yeah, but what happens if someone comes onto you and I'm not there to protect you?" I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned.

"Jake, I'm not gonna get swept away or anything by some scumbag. I can protect myself from these scrawny boys. It's not like they have super strength." I said. He gives me a reluctant sigh and puts his hand on my shoulder as if to say we're leaving that spot. I follow him through the halls until we finally reach my class.

"I'll see you after school at the front doors, right?" he asked and I nodded my head. They way he protected me, people always either saw him as a really protective/clingy brother, or they asked if we were dating.

I sat down in an empty chair, sighing deeply. Once of the groups of boys in the class whistled.

"Hey guys, check out the newbie."

"Man, she's pretty hot."

"I'm gonna go for it." _great. My first day and I'm already getting hit on. I don't think so._ I shut my eyes in annoyance and frustration. Once he reached my desk, I spoke up.

"Don't even try it. I'm not interested, and I never will be." I opened my eyes to look up at the boy to see his face red to his ears. I swallowed back a laugh that tried to submerge, and glared at him until he left and walked back over to his seat.

After a moment, a girl spoke out to me.

"You must be new." she said, her smile as bright and friendly as my mothers. It almost made me miss being at home. Almost. But that bastard of a father pushed those emotions away. "I'm Tohru."

"I'm Annabelle, but you can call me Anna." I said returning her friendly smile half-heartedly. The girl was sweet, so I wasn't about to shut her down like I did that guy.

"I've never seen you here, are you new?" I nodded my head. A couple of boys and a couple girls came and surrounded the girl.

"Tohru, who is this chick?" a boy with orange hair asked. He seemed to be a bit irritated that there saw someone new she was talking to.

"Don't be rude, _cat._ " a boy with silver hair and purple eyes said. He put a lot of hateful emphasis on the last word.

"Guys, this is Annabelle. I just met her a second ago." Tohru said, tucking her chocolate locks of hair behind her ear.

"Sup." a tall girl with blonde hair said. She seemed chill enough. I looked over at the other girl, her hair was as dark as the air around her. It gave me chills.

"Anna, this is Yuki, Kyo, Arisa and Saki." Tohru said, pointing at each and every person as she said their name. Kyo shrugged his shoulders, looking very irritated and annoyed. Yuki gave me a friendly smile, Saki stared at me like she was looking into my soul while Arisa gave me a peace sign.

"Her wavelengths tell me that she's a very strong person. She could probably beat Kyo in a fight." Saki said. This just made the weird vibe I was getting from her much, _much_ worse.

"Sorry, Saki's a little weird, but she's caring." Arisa said. Kyo about flipped over a desk on an outrage.

"What?! You think a girl like her could take me on?" the orange haired boy said. I smirked.

"Well, why not test that theory? Let's have an arm wrestle." I said. He grinned from ear to ear in confidence.

"Alright, I'll accept your challenge. But don't go crying when you lose!" Kyo said. Yuki face palmed and shook his head.

"Stupid cat, why must you constantly compete in physical challenges?" The silver haired boy looked anything but pleased with the contest. Tohru looked worried, and Arisa was cheering me on screaming 'girl power!'.

After three tries, Kyo was forced to give up by being dragged away by Yuki, kicking and screaming the whole way back to his seat. I beat him. Three times in a row. He kept asking for a rematch, but I refused after three. The teacher finally walked in shortly after and class got started. Of course, just like in animes she made me come up to the board and write my name on the board and present myself.

As soon as lunch started, I was being dragged away by my brother to the cafeteria. After getting our food, we sat down. It was awkward and silent since he didn't talk much, but I spoke up to break the silence.

"I made quite a few friends in my class." he raised a brow at me.

"Who?" he asked. I smiled at the victory of finally getting him to say something and told him all about my new friends. It was fun talking about newfound friends to Jake. He may not have talked much, but he listened. That was enough to make me happy. After lunch ended, he brought me back to my class, and I introduced him to my friends.

After my first day of school finally came to a close, I started walking out the front doors with Jake when I noticed that Tohru and the rest of the group (minus Arisa and Saki), including a few others. A smaller boy that dressed in the female uniform, and a boy that had black and white hair. There was another man standing in the center of the group. A black car sitting behind him, ready to go at any moment.

I started walking up to them when I saw the tension between the other man and the rest of the group. The man looked to be a bit older than us, with black hair and eyes just as dark. One look at him, and the way he looked at Tohru made me already dislike him. I stepped up to the group, getting a good look at the situation.

"Come on, Tohru. I have something to show you at the estate." the raven man said. He took her hand ever so gently, but the look in his eyes had the most negativity and evilness I've ever seen them. Kyo stepped between them.

"She doesn't want to go, so back off, Akito." the orange haired man stated. Ku _dos to him for actually being mature for once._

"Shut up, cat. I don't even want to look at you." the man said.

"Okay, that's it!" I shoved Kyo aside and stood in his place between Tohru and Akito before Jake could stop me. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"Excuse me?" Akito asked, looking completely shocked at my behavior. _This guy need a lesson or two in how to treat people._

"I don't know who the fuck you think you're kidding with acting like such a menacing idiot." I poked him hard in the chest. "But you need to get the hell out of here because it's obvious by all these people that you're not wanted."

"Miss Annabelle-" Yuki tried stopping me, but I held a hand up.

"Not til I'm finished." I turned my attention back to the oh so high and mighty Akito. "Tohru, nor any other female here, or male for that matter wants to go anywhere with you, so get back in your car and get out of here before I get really pissed off." Akito didn't move back an inch. Instead, he smiled at me menacingly and chuckled the creepiest laugh I've heard.

"I _like_ you." he said in a creepily perverted way. It was like he wanted to kidnap me and torture me as a turn on. _Fucking creep._ "Hatori, let's go back now." he called from behind him to someone that was probably in the car still, not taking his eyes off me for even a second. "I'll be seeing you soon." and with that, he was gone.

Jake finally came to my side after being held back from some of the unidentified boys in our group during my encounter with Akito.

"Anna!" he said bringing me into a tight hug.

"Miss Annabelle, that was probably one of the worst things you could ever do." Yuki said. I tilted my head to the side.

"Yeah, you just signed your death sentence." the black and white guy said.

"What do you guys mean? Who was that guy?" I asked. Kyo spoke up this time.

"He's the head of our family, Akito Sohma." Jake pulled away quickly. wide eyes at him, unlike his usual straight face.

"You mean _the_ Sohma?" he asked. I was still completely confused at what was so important about this Sohma guy.

"Yep. And all us guys here are Sohma as well." the salt and pepper man added in. His hair reminded me of a... cow. Jake face palmed his face and shook his head.

"Damn it, Anna. You made some dangerous friends." he said. Yuki spoke up, seeing my confusion.

"The Sohma family is one of the most powerful families in the country. And Akito is the head. Knowing personally how bad his temper can be, you're in deep trouble." I shook my head.

"I don't care _who_ he is! He's not gonna push my friends around like that! I'll show him just how tough I can be, I'm not scared one bit!"

* * *

"No! Dad, I'm sorry for being late for dinner! I'll make it up to you by doing the dishes afterwards, I promise!" I pleaded with the man, only for him to get angrier.

"Shut up you dead beat! You piss me off by just breathing!" the man said. He raised a hand to hit me, and I flinched back to the floor. I waited with my hands up defensively only for my hands to brush against soft material of fabric. I opened my eyes and saw my brother hovering over me protectively. The middle aged man clicked his tongue and walked away, unsatisfied that he hadn't gotten his frequent beating.

I latched onto my dear brother, silently thanking him for the millionth time for saving me. My father seemed to get more irritated than usual. My brother picked me up into the air and carried me back to our bedroom we shared. He put me on the bottom bunk of the bed we shared. It was my end of the bed, he had the top bunk. He held me close to reassure me that daddy's dose of pain wasn't coming this time.

Little did we know, we were being watched..

* * *

About a week after that little incident with Akito, what do ya know, the little shit walks through the school. He claims he's a third year, but we all know he's got to be over 20. He may have had a baby face for his age, but it was still obvious to my eyes how old he actually was. I don't know how he managed to even get in, but he did.

Not only that, but he tries to not only talk to me, but _privately._ I straight up rejected his invitation. _Fucking creep._ After about a month of dealing with his whiny ass asking me to talk _every single school day_ , I give in this shut him up. Not to my surprise, he takes me to the roof. The lack of anyone up there seemed to make me even more nervous about being up there.

"So what did you want to talk about, rich boy?" I asked him. He raised a brow.

"Not much, I just wanted to get to know you better." he deadpans. It throws me completely off guard.

"Wait, what? You've been asking to talk to me for the past months and _this_ is what you want to know? God i knew you were a creep but now I'm pretty sure you need a mental hospital too because you're crazy."

"I just wanted you to tell me about your family. Specifically, your _father._ " I gulped at his words. _What does he know about my father? He cant possibly know about the beatings!_

"What do you know about my father?" he began stepping towards me slowly. With each step forward, I took a step back until I was up against the half wall that was at the edge of the roof.

"Do you know where he works?" he asked and i shook my head. "He works as the manager for a factory of a very famous company. A factory now owned by the Sohma family as of last month." I glared at him.

"If you do anything to hurt my father, i swear I'll-"

"Oh no, he's been an outstanding employee. Working hard every single day, nice to the other workers. However, I am the one who holds your father's job in my hands." _If my father gets fired, he'll get really angry and he'll..._

"Alright, rich boy. I get it, so what do you want?" he smiled, seeming to be satisfied.

"You have to say and do whatever i want. If you disobey me, consider your fathers job terminated."

"F-fine.. but no creepy touching or sex. I will hurt you if you do." he stared at me, a bit shocked over the boldness. still have. "And no way in hell and I ever gonna dress in anything too revealing." and with that, I left the roof, and him, alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Soooo I know only four people have seen this, but eh, whatever. I'd rather have a few people that like my story than have a thousand that don't. But I hope that whoever is reading this likes my story! Enjoy!**

 **Also, I'm not gonna do disclaimers on my stories. I mean, what does it matter? Ya'll know I'm not the owner of these animes, only the fics and my adorable OC Annabelle.**

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I walked down the street with a heavy head. Jake was walking next to me on our way home from school, and noticed my foul mood. He decided to nudge me in the arm and instead of saying anything. He knew that I'd tell him what was wrong, even though right now I wasn't saying anything. I just wanted a bit of time to collect myself before I went ahead and told him about my talk with Akito.

 _I really wish that today never even happened.._

We reached home and I noticed just how impatient my father was while sitting on the couch. His leg was shaking a mile a minute, as if waiting for someone, but he wasn't upset at all. No, he looked very pleased. My little brother, Derek, ran up to Jake and I.

"Anna! Jake! Guess what I did in school today?" the little brunette said. He had different hair than us, but his eyes were just the same baby blue.

"Why don't you go to your room and we can talk in there when I'm done?" the little one nodded his head and cheerfully skipped off to his room.

"What's up, dad?" I asked him, earning a brief glare from said man until it turned into a normal stare. He closed his eyes and faced his head forward again.

"Just waiting for your mother to get home to tell her about the new owners of the factory giving me a raise." the man said. My eyes widened in shock and I grabbed into Jake's arm, pulling him along with me to our bedroom. Once we got there, I began pacing back and forth on the floor while Jake just tilted his head in confusion.

"Fuck fuck shit fuck FUCK!" my voice was full of worry. _He did this to taunt me, to get me to do something for him! What the hell does he want from me?!_

"Anna, what's wrong?" Jake asked. I stopped pacing and looked up at the red head.

"Akito! He bought the factory dad works at a month ago and he told me that if I didn't do what he said dad's job would be in jeopardy!" Jake's face turned bright red, he was pissed. I mean, _pissed._

"You mean to tell me that he's manipulating my little sister (He was born first) and he's treating dad's job like a game?" before we could say anything else, my cell phone rang. After a deep breath to calm my nerves, I answered it, not recognizing the caller ID.

"Hello?" I called out to the person on the other side.

"Annabelle. How is your father doing? I heard he got a raise." a calm voice said. I scowled at him.

"Shut up, Akito. You know just as well as I do that you're the one who made that happen. Now what do you want? And how did you you get my number?" the look in Jakes face when he heard that man's name made even me shiver.

"Getting your number was easy. Now, I want you to wear something nice. A car will pick you up at six." the click of him hanging up was the last thing I heard before I looked at my phone. He didn't even give me the opportunity to refuse.

"Jake, I need your help." I said. He looked down at me.

"To do what?"

"To sneak out." he shook his head so furiously that I thought he'd get whiplash.

"No way, you're not going anywhere with that man."

"But Jake, if I don't go dad will get fired and take his anger out on me." Jake clenched his fists and grit his teeth.

"Fine, but if he so much as touches you too high or too low, call me." he said. I threw my arms around his torso.

"You're such a good brother." I said. It was true, Jake was the sweetest guy I knew before coming to Japan. Now I've met more good hearted people, but none can compare to how wonderful Jake has been to me. He's always been there to help me out and protect me from harm.

* * *

After finishing up my makeup, brushing my curly red hair, and making sure my dress was perfect, I took one last look in the mirror. I had put on a form fitting blue dress that matched my eyes and wore black flats. _I can't believe I'm even trying to look good. I guess it's because I don't want dad getting fired since he'll take it out on me._

Jake distracted our father with homework he already knew the answers to while I slipped past them and out the door. I walked up to the car sitting in front of our driveway and allowed the driver to help me into the car. Inside was Akito, who made no effort to sit closer to me, but did give me a once over.

"You look nice." he stated, making my cheeks flush ever so slightly.

"Sh-shut up.." he chuckled as we drove off.

"I was almost worried to see if you were going to dress up or not." I turned my head away from him.

"It's not like you gave me a choice." silence followed my words and weighed down on us the rest of the drive. Akito and I stepped out and I looked up to see that we were at a famous chinese restaurant, Zodiac Gardens. I had passed by it a few times before, but never got a chance to eat there since it was expensive.

Akito led me inside, and we were seated by a waiter. The whole time I wouldn't let the man touch me. He did the gentleman thing actors do in those movies where they pull our a chair for you and help you sit in your seat, but I just scoffed at him while I sat. After him sitting down as well, we took a look at our menus. I was a bit surprised at how he didn't ask for a private room when the waiter offered. We were sitting out in the open with people. _I guess that means he doesn't intend to do anything bad._

After ordering our meals, the waiter left us alone. _I was gonna tell the man he didn't have to treat me to such an expensive dinner, but damn it, I'm getting a good meal out of this bastard if he's gonna offer._

"Annabelle, do you know of the story of the chinese zodiacs?" Akito asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, my mom used to tell me all about it when I was younger as a bedtime story. There's the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, pig, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and the cat even though it's not considered a zodiac." he rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward.

"Do you consider the cat part of the zodiac?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, just because he he missed the banquet doesn't mean he isn't still a part of the story. So, why not?" after carefully listening to my words, Akito leaned back into the proper position. The waiter soon came back with our food and we began eating. "Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"I thought it would be a good change of pace for me after only dining with old, wrinkly business men." I managed to laugh at his attempt to be funny and serious at the same time. Akito wasn't as bad as everyone said he was. Sure, he was a cruel man, hands down. I witnessed this, but when I ate dinner with him he had this... relaxing look on his face. He was just as rude and cruel to me as he had always been, even after we left the restaurant. But it's like he was just a bit admirable in a way.

After Akito took me home, I snuck back into my room where Jake was waiting impatiently for my return. As soon as I stepped into the bedroom, he stood up from my bottom bunk and walked over to me.

"How was it? Did he hurt you?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

"No." I said and walked over to sit on my bunk. He followed suit.

"Did he do anything to you?"

"No."

"Well where did you guys even go?"

"He took me out to dinner.."

"Did he piss you off?" I shook my head.

"Not anymore than usual. He wouldn't even touch me except for when he helped me out of the car." Jake heaved a great sigh.

"Well as long as that's all that happened, he's safe for now."

From then on, Akito always made time a couple times a week to go to dinner with me. I don't know how he did it, being a powerful man and all, but he did. At first, I didn't really want to go with him, but after a few weeks of doing it, I became used to it and stopped complaining. It was getting nowhere with the man anyways. He didn't know the definition of 'no'.

Don't get me wrong, I still didn't like the guy, but I tolerated him enough to go with him and not punch him in the face. He was horrible to his family, and even worse to me sometimes, but it was like he was slowly getting better at being social. Here is one instance.

"Why are you just sitting there? Eat your food, Akito." I said, growling in annoyance.

"Oh? Are you now concerned for my health? I thought you wanted my head on a platter." the smirk he had on his face didn't tempt me much to say anything rude back.

"I did, but now? Well, you're alright Akito. Not enough for me to want to be your friend, but I don't want to rearrange your face every time I see you anymore." he chuckled a bit.

"Well, don't I feel special." I clicked my tongue at him.

"Yeah, riiiight."

* * *

One day after classes ended, everyone was beginning to leave. I decided to walk with the Sohmas until we had to go our separate ways to our homes. I finally found out who the salt and pepper dude and the girly guy was. They were Hastuharu and Momiji Sohma. They had to go a different route since the Sohma estate was the other way, but Yuki, Kyo and Tohru said they'd walk with me. Just as everyone was walking outside the doors, ready to say goodbye, we all stopped dead in our tracks.

"What the hell is he doing here?" I asked as I walked out towards the black car parked out front. Akito had decided to leave the school after our talk on the roof. Now he was there, leaning his back on the car, waiting for someone. As soon as he saw us all, he locked eyes with me and walked straight up to me. "Akito, why are you here?"

"I thought we could go for a little drive back to the estate." the raven said. Kyo spoke up.

"Leave Anna alone!" he said trying to step between us. I shook my head and pushed the red head aside. Jake was fuming next to me, about ready to pounce at the man. I had to make sure no one did just that, because it wouldn't be good for me or my family if I let it happen.

"Guys, it's okay. He's not gonna do anything bad to me." I said.

"Are you insane?!" both Yuki and Kyo shouted at the same time.

"Guys, trust me. I got this." I said and took the outstretched hand Akito had for me. When we reached the car, I looked back. Everyone was shouting at me to stay away form him. I gave them a slight smile before I climbed into the black car with the raven.

After the car drove off, I soon found myself closing my eyes. _What is he planning to do with me? Honestly, it's been too long and nothing has happened after he went through so much trouble to get me to do what he says._ After about ten minutes, we finally arrived at the Sohma estate. Akito led me through the gates and into the small village-like place. We walked through the dirt path, earning many stares along the way. When we reached a certain house, we walked inside. All the servants we passed immediately stopped what they were doing and dropped to the floor to bow.

"Lord, Akito! Welcome back!" one of them said. They didn't sound at all pleased he was there. In fact, they sounded _afraid_.

"Lord Akito, there is a business man here to speak with you. We left him in the usual meeting room." another said. Akito nodded his head and we walked on. We stopped at a sliding door and the raven opened it up for me.

"Stay here until I get this meeting over with." he said. I nodded my head and stepped inside. After he left, I decided to have a look around. The whole estate, every single building reminded me of the futile era. Akito even wore a kimono most of the time, except for that time he was in school. Besides that, it's rare to see him in anything else except for when he takes me out to eat.

After about ten minutes Akito returned. He didn't bother talking about the meeting, or how it went. But then again, I didn't bother asking. I was taken to a large room, mostly empty of any furniture. I rose a brow to Akito.

"What do you plan on doing with me in here?" I asked him. He laughed and turned around, forcing his hand under my chin so I had to look up at him.

"Wouldn't you want to know." I quickly pushed him away and glared at him.

"I'm not letting _that_ kind of thing happen." I said firmly and he once again laughed at me.

"Relax, I was joking. I'm bored, so I decided to bring you here to entertain me." he said. I gave him a skeptical look. "Do you really think that lowly of me?"

"Yes." I deadpanned. He shook his head and sat down.

"You're truly horrible if you think that I'm going to touch you."

"Oh? But you're the one that treats everyone like a toy, so why stop at me?" he sighed and looked at the floor.

"Maybe it wasn't the best idea to pick you to keep me company."


	3. Chapter 3

**Helloooooo my lovelies! Welcome to yet another chapter of my new fic. I hope you guys enjoy! Follow, fav and review!**

After I came home from Akito's, I set my bag on the floor and started walking into the living room.

"Where were you?" my father asked immediately. Jake was sitting next to him on the couch, looking very upset. My mother and Derek were in the kitchen leaning up from dinner, I knew so because I could hear them in there making a lot of noise. "Why did you miss dinner? You've been missing an awful lot of them lately."

"I'm sorry, Anna. I-"

"Annabelle, _why_ did you miss dinner?" the middle aged man asked again.

"I'm sorry, I was out." I said weakly. I knew what was coming.

"Where were you?" he asked. I just kept my mouth shut and my eyes down. There was no way in hell I'd tell him who I was with. "Damn it, tell me!" he stood up from his seat, grabbed me by the arms and picked me up by force. He then slammed me into the side of the coffee table. My back was in so much pain, I couldn't even speak. Jake finally stepped in and threw the man off me. He held me there while my father cursed and swore at me and told me the most awful things yet.

Jake carefully carried me to the bedroom to get a good look at the wound. He pulled off all the clothing that was covering my back. He said nothing as the pulled it back down.

"Shit, it's pretty bad Anna. We can't exactly go to the hospital because it'll be trouble if we do." was the only thing he said. He grabbed my cell phone and started looking through my contacts, looking for a certain someone. He put the phone to his ear and started yelling after a few rings. "Hey, you rich bastard. This is Anna's brother. Your family member Yuki said you had a doctor. Good, we need him. Anna's hurt, we need you to come and get her. Alright." he hung up the phone and I looked at him.

"Who was that?" I asked. He looked extremely frustrated when talking to the person on the receiver.

"Akito."

* * *

Akito brought a man named Hatori with him and Jake carried me out while Hatori kept my father back. Akito stayed in the car, not wanting to risk my father recognizing him. They drove Jake and I quickly to the Sohma estate, my red head look alike carried me to the infirmary, Hatori's office. The man quickly got to work wrapping a bandage around my torso after putting an ointment on it. After giving me some pain pills, I rested on a bed inside the office. Jake stayed with me the whole time. Akito left to go back to his business meeting. He was in the middle of one when Jake called him, and had to leave immediately to help me out.

"I'm gonna go get us some late dinner." he said, then turned to the raven haired doctor. "Will you take me somewhere I can get some food?" Hatori nodded his head and they both left the room. As soon as they left, in came Akito. He walked up to my bed and looked down at me.

"Are you going to tell me how this happened?" he asked. I turned my head and bit my lip. _I can't_. "If you don't tell me, I'll just assume what happened from what Hatori told me. He said that your father was not very happy you were leaving, but not acting like a father _should_ when his child is being taken away from him. So I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that he caused this?" I grit my teeth and slowly nodded. "How long has this abuse been going on?"

"T-three years.." I said almost inaudibly. A long pause before the man spoke again showed just how bad he felt.

"You and your brother can stay here until you can get a place of your own." he said. I sat up quickly, only to regret it.

"Ughh..." I held my back and lay back down, looking up at the raven. "I can't, my little brother Derek, he's only seven. And my mom wouldn't be able to stand a chance against my father.

"I can send some people to get them out of that home as well."

"But.. you know that taking us is technically kidnap, right? I mean at least what you did today was. You can get arrested." Akito laughed at my words.

"My dear, I _own_ the police force. I can send a couple of officers down here right now to report the abuse. Then your father will be arrested and your mother and brother will be just as free from him as you are right now."

"But... why are you doing all this? Why have you been going through such trouble just to see and help me?" Akito shook his head.

"Don't think so lowly of me. I may be a cruel person towards many people, but that's just a face I put on to keep them off my back." I shook my head.

"That's not true. I can see it in your eyes that that's not the real reason you're cruel. But, I guess you're not as bad as I originally thought. Thank you, Akito."

After Akito left, Hatori and Jake returned with food for all three of us. Jake offered to buy it all, but Hatori apparently refused and payed. While we were slurping on our noodles, I told Jake about Akito's plan and he heaved a great sigh. For a second there, I though he was gonna cry, but instead he just smiled and looked at Hatori.

"Tell Akito that despite how I acted towards him before, I'm very grateful."

* * *

After a few days of staying out of school, Jake and I were reunited with my mother and Derek once again. They even brought us changes of clothes and our school bags we'd been missing. Akito had the police come in and interview all four of us and my father was arrested. It all seemed to pass by so fast. My mother wasn't too fond of Akito, but was grateful for him helping us out. Akito gave us all rooms in his house and fed us meals. Though, he did snap a couple of times at us and got into it a lot with Jake, he was a good caretaker. My mother offered to pay him rent with the money she earned from her job as an interpreter, but he refused. It seemed that the other Sohmas were shocked just as much as I was with Akito's behavior. He seemed a lot nicer than he was before.

He even chose to pick me and my brothers up after school every day or have Hatori do it when he was busy. Of course, after telling him countless times that we didn't need it, he still demanded that we should be picked up and did it anyway. I caught him once in the hallway on his way to a meeting with the president of a company.

"Akito." I called out to him, and he turned back to look at me.

"Yes?" I leaned up against the wall and smirked at him.

"I'm impressed. You seem to have changed a lot since I first met you." He tilted his head.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well for one thing, Derek seems to have taken a liking to you. He's even drawing you a picture as we speak." Akito clicked his tongue at me.

"Do you want to sit in a meeting with me?" he asked out of nowhere. I nodded my head. "Follow me." We walked down the hallway and into the meeting room he was always hanging around.

"Mr. Sohma. It's good to see you again, sir." a middle aged man said. He bowed deeply. It was weird seeing how much respect the man had for Akito. Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I followed him over to were he always sat and sat directly next to him. "May I ask who this young lady is?"

"Don't worry abut her. She's just here to observe." he said. I watched as they talked about some business proposal where Akito was deciding whether or not to build a bakery. It seemed that the man was very desperate to get the raven to be his business partner.

"So, with that all said, I hope you decide to become my partner in this project." the man said when he was done telling us about his proposal. Akito looked at me of all things.

"Well Annabelle, what do you think I should do?" I tilted my head.

"Y-you're asking me?" I asked and he nodded his head. "W-well... I think it's a great proposal, but I think it's too much of a risk considering how many bakeries there are in town. Besides, the bigger you build it, the harder it's gonna be to get out of debt if it fails. It wouldn't be naive enough to take the offer if it were me being asked to do it." Akito turned back to the man.

"You heard the woman." the raven said. The older male's face became distorted.

"B-but she doesn't know what she's talking about! She's just a stupid girl!" he said. Akito's gaze turned into a glare.

"Don't piss me off. I'm not going to change my mind." he said. A man slid the sliding door open and peaked his head inside the room.

"Um, Lord Akito? There's a commotion going on in the main hall." the man said and Akito stood up from his spot.

"I'll be right back." he said before exiting into the hallway. I turned my attention back to the man in front of me. There was an awkward silence before I spoke up.

"Um, I-"

"You bitch." he said, interrupting me and pouncing on me.

"Eeek!" he held me down by my wrists and glared at me.

"You need a lesson or two taught to you before you open your mouth again." he said. I tried to wriggle myself out of his hold, but he slapped me hard in the face to get me to stop. My head jerked to the side and he held me down once again. "Learn your place!" he forced one of his knees between my leg, pushing my legs apart and pushed it up to my skirt.

"No! Get off me!" I shouted. Once again I tried to squirm out of his grasp, only for him to lean down and bite my shoulder. The pain of his teeth sinking into my skin made me scream. Tears began flowing freely from my eyes. The sliding door was flown open and the man was suddenly pulled off me. When I opened my eyes, Akito was looking down at me and a couple of servants held the man down. Before I knew it, I leaned down and rested my head on his chest while crying. Soon after I pulled myself closer to him and held onto him, he awkwardly wrapped his arms around my back.

That's all we did for awhile while the man was getting dragged out of the room, just holding each other. At one point I tried looking at the man who'd attacked me, but Akito just pushed my head back into his chest and refused to let me look.

It was comforting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi you guys! Lilly here to announce the newest chapter of this fic! I would like to say though about a certain review (I'm sorry I don't feel like looking at my reviews again to find your name) that thank you for the feedback! I will apologize to you and everyone else if the sudden changes in Akito's behavior are rushed but I didn't plan on making this fic very long so I'm just gonna keep going with the flow of what I'm doing.**

 **So yeah! I hope you do enjoy this fic, and I will try my best to update on time! Lilly out.**

* * *

"Lord Akito, I'm being serious. What are you going to do if she finds out?" the raven haired doctor asked. Akito sighed deeply.

"We shall see what happens and what she does when she does figure it out."

" _When_? Do you intend to tell her?" Akito shook his head.

"You know I can't do that. She needs to figure it out herself."

"But Akito I-"

"Silence. This conversation is over."

* * *

I hated being late to school, but Jake didn't want to wake up this morning, so we had to rush. I didn't want to bother Akito since he was supposed to get ready for the christmas party he held every year. Not all the Sohmas came for it, but most of them did. I was excited to see Yuki and Kyo and the others outside of school for once. I knew I needed to buy them all presents.

Lost in my thoughts and running down the street, I didn't realize there was someone in front of me until I bumped into them. I fell backwards and hit my butt flat on the ground.

"Ow.. I'm sorry, I didn't-" I opened my eyes to apologize to whom ever it was I hit, but I just saw a rat there and a pile of clothes. I tilted my head. "Uhh.. why is there a rat in front of me?" I asked myself. The rat also tilted its head. I was quickly pulled up on my feet and looked back to see Jake there.

"Come on, we've gotta go or else we'll be late." I looked back down at the rat once again.

"But he looks so lonely."

"No time for that. The rat can find a sewer or something to live in. I'm sure there's plenty of rats down there for it to play with. Come on." I walked with him, complaining the whole way.

"You treat me like such a child, but I'm only 32 minutes younger than you!"

Meanwhile...

"She totally didn't recognize me before she bumped into me. Maybe she just didn't see me first." the little grey rat mumbled to himself. He ran into a certain orangette soon afterwards who sighed as he looked down at the rat.

"Who dumped into you?" Kyo asked.

"Miss Thompson."

"Oh, how did she react?" Kyo asked. Yuki shook his little rat head.

"I don't think she saw me before. She looked confused that there was a rat on her lap."

"Oh, so we're still in the clear."

"Yeah."

"You're still a dumbass for almost getting caught. Leave it to the rat to fuck things up for others." Kyo shook his head and took the rat into the bushes along with his clothes. Just after a poof sound was made, Yuki's human head popped out of the bushes and he glared at the orange haired male.

"You're just saying that because of the legend and what I did to your zodiac."

* * *

After lunch had started, I decided to stay back in the classroom. I had a bit of studying to do for the next math test I had and there was no way I was gonna pass with flying colors if I didn't figure out the equations. Yuki had decided to help me out and teach me his way (Because we all know teachers don't know how to teach when it comes to math). After finally getting the hang of most of the problems he had wrote out for me, I decided to get up and get a bottle of water for the both of us.

"I'll be right back." I said and stood up from my seat. Unfortunately, I lost my balance as my left foot caught on a leg of my chair. I began to fall, and Yuki tried to catch me. I heard a poof and fell to the floor. I groaned and lifted my head. Deja vu hit me like a ton of bricks as I stared at a small grey rat standing on top of a pile of clothes right where Yuki should be. It was the same rat from earlier that morning. "U-u-uhhhhh...?" I was so insanely confused that I ended up tilting my head in question. "Yuki, is that you?"

"Yes." the rat sighed.

"Y-you're a r-r-rat?" I asked and he nodded his head.

"Yes, I am."

"I am so confused.." I pressed my hand to my forehead as I looked down upon him.

"I guess I have to tell you about my family's curse. Or rather, Akito should.." he said. Before I could question him anymore, another poof sounded through the empty room and I was left staring at a naked Yuki in his human form.

"Eeek!" I quickly turned my head. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" all I heard was another sigh and the rustling of clothes.

"You can turn around now, I'm fully clothed." he said. I turned around and looked up at the grey haired male.

"So what's this about a family curse?" I asked. Yuki shook his head quickly.

"Akito should be the one to tell you, not me. He's the one who will determine whether or not you will have your memory of this event erased. I'm surprised though that you're not freaking out about me becoming a rat." I sat down on the top of my desk.

"I am, but I'm more freaked out about seeing you naked." he chuckled at how calm I actually said that.

"Yes, I can never get used to the fact that I always end up naked whenever I change back."

"But Yuki, you're a rat. How is that even possible?" I asked. He looked straight into my eyes.

"Let's just say I don't like being hugged by many women."

After lunch ended, Yuki whispered to Tohru and Kyo about the incident and they both looked at me in shock. I just shrugged it off and waited until after school to confront Akito. When school was finally over, the raven picked me and Jake up, then we drove back to the estate. My mother picked Derek up from his elementary school, since she didn't want a stranger to pick her up, nor did she want Akito to go out of his way since he was already picking us up.

When we got inside, I dropped my book bag off in my room and went to find the raven. I would've changed into my regular everyday clothes, but I was too anxious to get to the bottom of Yuki turning into a rat and about this 'family curse' the grey haired man had mentioned.

"Akito." I called out to him as I caught him on his way to meet with Hatori. "I need to talk to you, now." I said. He nodded and slowly made his way back to me. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back to my room. It was the only place I knew we could really be alone without anyone interrupting us.

"What's this about?" he asked as soon as I shut the sliding door. I walked over to my bed and sat down, patting the spot next to me to get him to sit next to me. When he sat down, I spoke up.

"I uh.. I found something out in school today, something about your family. I'm not really sure about it all, but Yuki told me I had to ask you about it since you're the family head." Akito's expression remained blank and he stared at me.

"Continue." he mumbled.

"W-well... Yuki sort of.. turned into a rat, and he mentioned something about a family curse." Akito looked down at the floor and mumbled an almost inaudible 'oh'. He stood up and kept his back to me as he explained.

"Do you remember how I asked you about the chinese zodiacs?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well, certain members of my family are born with a curse. They turn into different animals of the zodiac when hugged by the opposite sex or are under a large amount of stress. The only time they can come into contact by the opposite sex is with another zodiac member." he said. I tilted my head.

"But what about when you held me that one day? Why didn't you change?" I asked.

"Fortunately, I'm not one of the people who change. However, I carry the burden of the entire zodiac, so I'm destined to die at a young age. Yuki, Kyo, Hatsuharu, Momiji, Hatori and other members are cursed, though." he finally turned around and looked directly into my eyes, as if looking into my soul. "How do you feel about them now? Does your opinion change about them or my family now that you know what we are?"

"What are you talking about? Of course my opinion doesn't change." his brows furrowed and his blank stare turned into a glare.

"Bullshit. Everyone sees us differently." I shook my head at the raven and stood up.

"I'm serious. I may see them all differently, but only because I want to know what zodiac they turn into. But I will _never_ judge them for something they aren't able to control." his face softened for a moment, but then hardened right back up.

"Liar." I stepped closer to him and touched his shoulder. "Don't touch me!" he smacked my hand away, but I just tried again, a little quicker this time and grabbed both his arms.

"Akito. I'm serious. I'm not gonna tell anyone about this, okay?" he got out of my hold once more and grabbed my wrists hard. The pain stung and I winced.

"Shut up, or else I'll have your memory erased." I bit back the pain and looked up at him, stepping just a bit closer.

"I know you won't do it. You can't erase my memory because you don't want me to leave you alone with this." he shook his head and stepped back.

"Shut up, shut up!"

"No, you shut up! You should've told me this earlier! You know you can trust me." I just barely raised my voice, staying firm and stepping closer once again. His grip on my wrists tightened.

"I said shut up! You will not disobey me!" I hissed at the new pain shooting through my arm. I almost buckled down and fell to my knees, but I held myself up with all the strength I had.

"Akito, just trust me." I leaned my head on his chest and tried not to sound desperate, even though I was to get him to listen to me. "Trust me like I trust you.."

In an instant, his breath hitched and his grip on my wrists softened. I freed my wrists and wrapped my arms around his torso. I backed him into a wall and held him there.

"You can't keep running away from how you feel about me, everyone's already told me about how much you've changed because of me. I've noticed it, too." I said softly. I could hear his heartbeat speed up from where my head was rested on his chest. He reached down and grabbed onto my arms, prying me off him. A second later, and I was the one who was pinned to the wall and he had a mean glared on me.

"You're wrong. I would never have any romantic feelings for a low life such as you." I glared right back at him.

"Why are you denying something that's so obvious to everyone else? What are you afraid of?" he laughed a menacing laugh.

"Me? Afraid? Surely you're joking. If anything, you should be the one who's afraid of me." I shook my head.

"But I'm not. I don't see anything scary about you. All I see is a man who's afraid of his own feelings."

"You're wrong." I pushed my head off the wall and leaned in closer to him.

"I'm not, and now that I know more about you than when I first met you, I'm never gonna be afraid of you." he sighed in defeat and let go of me. He walked over to the sliding door, and opened it. He looked back once more before he left.

"I'll prove you wrong."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi you guys, sorry this is a day late but I mean, I was too excited and focused on he fact that I finished my other story after so long. So yeah, I hope you enjoy! Lilly out!**

* * *

Now that I knew about the family curse the Sohmas had to go through, I felt bad for them. Soon, word spread throughout the zodiacs that there was a second girl, Tohru being the first, that knew about the curse. Yuki had told me the next day that Kyo was the cat, Hatsuharu was the cow, Momiji was the rabbit and Hatori was a seahorse that represented the dragon zodiac. I laughed so hard I almost cried when I heard about Hatori's zodiac. Yuki told me he tell me the rest as they came along.

I sat in my room trying to figure out a christmas list when a knock on my foor stopped me. I hid my list under my bed.

"Come in." I said. The door opened and a little blue eyed, brown haired boy stepped inside. "Hey, Derek."

"Hi, Anna! Wanna come outside and play tag with me? Jake already said no." He asked as he sat down next to me on my bed.

"Awe, okay. I'll just go as Momiji to play." And with that, Jake was gone. I was about to pull the list back out when someone else walked into my room.

"Akito?" I called out to him. He slid the door closed and slowly walked up to me, his face expressionless. "Akito, what's up?"

"Stop talking." He said. He pinned me down to the bed, my legs still dangling off the side. I looked up at him in shock. "I told you I'd prove you wrong."

"Akito I-" he placed his right hand on my neck and pressed down hard.

"I said shut up!" I couldn't speak, or even breathe. I just looked up at him, nt knowing what to think or do. My vision became blurry, and it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. I reached my weak arm up to grab something, anything. I don't know what I grabbed, since I had closed my eyes, but it felt like silk. I pulled as hard as I could, which was just enough, trying desperately to get the man to stop. I know it wasn't what he intended to do, I must've pushed him too far to open up to me. He has probably never opened up to anyone in his life, being born and growing up knowing you're gonna die is a scary thing. Something soft brushed against my lips once the fabric was to my chest, and the grip Akito had on my neck instantly stopped.

I began breathing again through my nose, opening my eyes again. All I could see were wide, grey eyes staring back aat me. It took me a moment to register what I had accidentally done, and another moment to finally react. I pushed the man off me, panting from the lack of air followed by the sharing of air when we..

I looked up at Akito, not glaring, but definitely not happy.

"Akito... Why would you.." my voice failed to work right, and I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"I thought you'd want your memory erased and finally leave if I did this." He admitted, just as shocked as I was about our surprise kiss.

"Akito, you're not gonna... get me to leave. I don't want to leave..." I managed to say. A lot of it though was whispered because of all the pressure he put on my voice box. _I guess it's time to break out the concealer again, he definitely left some bruises._

"You should leave! I could've just killed you!"

"But you didn't. You won't." I scooted forward in my seat and took the raven's hands. "I know you don't want me to go, so I won't no matter what you do." Akito just stared at me, not sure what to say or do. Before I could say anything else, he left. He just left, not giving me a response on whether he will let me stay.

* * *

I kept passing Akito in the hallway, and during meals. It was a bit awkward considering the last time we talked. He didn't come and pick me up since then, and instead just sent a driver by himself. After a whole week, it was finally the chance to get him to really talk to me. The christmas party. The whole Sohma estate attended the party, and I even bought presents for the ones that didn't attend. I bought all the zodiacs I knew of presents, along with Tohru, Jake, Derek, my mom and Akito. I gave Yuki and Kyo their presents at school since they weren't attending.

I got Kyo a pair of black and orange high tops that went just over his ankles. I figured he liked orange since it was his hair color. Yuki got a cook book that had simple recipes in it.

The party was about to start, so I decided to dress up for the occasion. I wore a red dress with matching pumps. I never really liked wearing heels, but I sucked it up for this occasion. I carried a bag full of the wrapped presents and walked out of my bedroom. I went to the main hall of one of the buildings and stepped inside. The first person I ran into was Tohru. She was dressed as well, in a pink frilly dress and small one inch black heels.

"Anna!" she called out to me. I walked over to her and gave her a quick hug. Two other people I recognized were right behind her. It was Momiji and Haru.

"Hey, Anna! Merry Christmas!" the little blonde boy said. He had just as much energy as always. "My gift to you is a hug!" he reached out to hug me, but I held my hands out to stop him. Haru helped me keep him back.

"Eheheh, sorry Momiji, but you can't hug me." I said and gave him a smile.

"So it's true, then. You do know about us." Haru said and I nodded my head.

"I'm surprised Akito didn't erase your memory." Hatori chimed in. He had walked up to us and joined our conversation so suddenly I almost jumped.

"Geez, Hatori. Don't sneak up on people like that." I said. He almost cracked a smile. Almost. Something finally registered in my mind a few seconds later. "Oh! Since you're all here, I might as well give you all your presents." I said and handed out everyone's wrapped gifts. Hatori got a sea horse stuffed animal, Momiji got a cute little blue hat I found and thought of him. Haru got black combat boots with spikes on them and Tohru got a blue frilly dress I found at the mall.

A man with long white hair and green eyes came up behind Hatori and threw his arm around him.

"Hatoriiii~! You should have some eggnog!" the man said. The raven he was talking to scowled at him.

"You're drunk, aren't you Ayame?" Hatori asked. The man he called Ayame chuckled and turned his attention to me.

"Who's this pretty little thing? She'd be perfect for modeling my clothes!" he said. Everyone shook their heads and sighed. Tohru looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Ayame, no one wants to model your clothes." Hatori deadpanned. Ayame pouted and turned his gaze back to me.

"So, what's your name, cutie?" he asked. I bowed deeply.

"My name is Annabelle Thompson." I said. His eyebrows raised to his forehead.

"Oh! You're the one I've heard so much about! You know, you're the buzz among the zodiacs these days." I tilted my head for a moment, but then it clicked what he was telling me.

"Word spread that fast?" Ayame nodded his head.

"As soon as Ayame heard, he told everyone." Hatori told me. I chuckled at how energetic Ayame was being next to the raven. After I finished my conversation with the Sohmas, I found my family and gave them all their presents as well. By the end of the night, I was alone walking around the party. I soon spotted Akito, and awkwardly waved to him. When he noticed me waving, he turned around and began walking in the other direction. I walked behind him at a quicker pace, catching up to him in the hallway. He finally turned to face me, his dark red kimono flowing along with him.

"Must you follow me?" he asked.

"Yes, I must. You can't ignore me forever, Akito. I'll just annoy the shit out of you until you pay attention to me." he raised a brow.

"So you're an attention seeker now? That's not very attractive." I growled at the man, but calmed down quickly.

"I don't get what's so hard about letting me in. At least tell me you trust me with the secret. I know you do since you haven't erased my memory yet." Akito closed his eyes and sighed.

"Alright, fine. I trust you, but that doesn't mean I-" I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Finally! I thought I was gonna have to strap you down or something to get you to admit it!" at first, the raven didn't move an inch, but then he gently pulled me off him.

"Why are you always hugging me now?" he asked. He seemed a bit frustrated.

"Because I can." his brow twitched.

"And who gave you permission to do such a thing?" he asked. I gave out a hearty laugh.

"I did, silly!"

"You're impossible.." he said face palming. By the time he looked up, I had something shoved in his face. It was a small black box with a red bow on it. "What's this?" he asked. I gave him a big smile.

"It's your christmas present." he looked down at it for another minute.

"No one's ever given me a present before. This isn't a trick, is it?" he asked ginving me a skeptical look.

"Just open it." I said. He looked at me, then back down at the present, unsure whether to take it or not. I had to shove it into his chest in order to get him to take it. He slowly opened the box to reveal a small charm bracelet. It was a simple silver chain filled with all different charms. Each charm was a animal of the chinese zodiac. "Well do you like it?" I asked him. He just kept staring down at it, not even registering that I said anything. I began to get nervous.

(He doesn't like it, does he?)

Just as I was turning around, he grabbed my hand I looked back him. His expression had changed, and he looked a bit desperate to keep me from leaving.

"Akito?" as soon as I said his name, his face went back to the normal blank one. He raised my hand up and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it gently before looking back at me.

"Thank you." my cheeks flushed and my eyes widened. It was the first time I've ever heard him say that to anyone, or do that to anyone. He let my hand go and slowly turned around and walked away from me.

* * *

The next day was pretty boring. Everyone was enjoying their gifts, recovering from a hangover or regretting everything that happened at the party. I, on the other hand, was all by my lonesome thinking about what happened last night. I took a walk by the gardens and sat down on a bench. I was soon greeted by a little blonde boy.

"Hey Momiji." I said and gave him a smile. He hopped up next to me and gave me a grin as big as his face.

"Hey Anna! What's up? You look kinda down." I shook my head.

"I'm not, just thinking about stuff." I said. I looked back down at the beautiful colors of flowers that were surrounding me.

"You look like you need a hug." he said and I chuckled.

"You know you can't hug me in public." I said, but Momiji shook his head.

"I didn't mean from me. Maybe you need a hug from whoever is making you act like this." he said. I stared down at him in deep thought. _Akito? There's no way he'd do such a thing._

"Momiji, can I ask you something?" I asked. He gave me another smile as an answer. "How do you know when you have feelings for someone?" he looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at me.

"Well, I know people think I'm not mature enough to know what it's like to like someone romantically, but I do. It's like, when you see them, your whole world stops and all you want to do is make them smile, even if it's not for you. And when they do something out of character, you notice it before anyone else, even if it's just a small thing. There's a girl in my class, and she always eats a piece of candy everyday with her lunch. One day, she stopped. I asked her what happened, and she said she was trying to cut back on sweets because a girl called her fat for it. I marched right up to the girl that did it and gave her a piece of my mind." I chuckled at the boy.

"Sounds like you really like her." I said and he nodded his head.

"I've had a crush on her since the first time I saw her. And for the longest time, I've been wanting to tell her that, but I didn't know how. Haru told me that I had to just come out and say it, so tomorrow, that's what I'm gonna do!"

"But, what if that doesn't work and you get rejected?" I asked him. His smile became just a bit bitter, but stayed on his face.

"If she doesn't like me, if she laughs in my face, I'll at least be happy that I told her. If I don't tell her eventually, I'll never know if she likes me, too." I thought for a second, and then smiled at him. I patted his head before standing up.

"Thanks, Momiji. You're actually a lot more mature than Kyo in a way." I said, but then said cat jumped out of nowhere and glared at me.

"He's what?!" he grabbed onto Momiji and gave him a noogie on his head.

"Wahhhh! Kyo's hurting me!" the blonde boy cried. I sighed deeply and looked around to see if anyone was around. When the coast was clear, I quickly wrapped my arms around Kyo and hugged him. After a poof and a quick transformation, I was holding the orange cat in my arms. I then picked up his clothes and dragged him to a bush and glared at him, holding him by the back of his neck.

"What the hell, Anna?! Someone could've seen that!" I shook my head.

"I made sure no one was around before I did that, and you need to stop picking on Momiji!" I said. He swatted at me, and almost scratched my face with his claws, but I backed him away just in time.

"There's no way a little brat like that is more mature than me!" he said and I shook my head once again.

"He is if he's not afraid to show how he feels about someone. _You_ on the other hand won't tell Tohru how you feel even though it's completely noticeable! Nor will you tell your 'wife' Kagura that you don't want to be with her, so you're in a bit of a situation right now that can be solved easily!" before I could say another word, he transformed back into a human and I closed my eyes just in time to not see anything I shouldn't. I turned around and waited for him to put his clothes back on before continuing the conversation. "You and Akito are just the same. You both need to learn how to show appreciation and tell someone how you really feel."

"I.." he didn't have anything to say, so I turned around and glared at him, changing the subject.

"What are you even doing here anyway?" I asked. He sighed deeply before answering.

"I came to talk to Hatori about some stuff."

"Well go see him and get the fuck out of here!" he nodded, seeing that I was extremely agitated at him and walked away without another word.

After going to see if Momiji was okay, I decided to go to the grocery store and get a few snacks to calm my nerves. I walked back to my room to grab some money, and then left the estate. When I got to the grocery store, I walked down to the isle of drinks and got some watermelon ramune.

(Maybe I really do like Akito. I mean, I always want to hug him whenever I'm around him, and I didn't exactly hate it when I realized he might have feelings for me even if he denied them completely. Yeah, there's definitely something about the way he acts around me that tells me he likes me even if it's just a little bit.)

I ended up getting the ramune, some pocky and rice crackers. As I was checking out, my name was called. I looked over to see someone I really didn't want to meet ever again in my life.

(Roy..)


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, Lilly here! I'm sorry I missed last week's posting. However, I am gonna make it up by posting again this weekend and two today. It's been hectic for a bit with blurry con coming up, homecoming, and not to mention I've been stressed about how well I did on my SAT's. That FOOKIN' TEST KILLS MY VERY BEING. However, I will not stress about it too much, but I'm hoping to get this fic finished soon. Maybe a few more chapters? Idk, but Roy will come back and shit will go down in chapter 8. Expect the worst! Lilly out!**

* * *

 _Guhhh, what am I supposed to do? I actually acted upon a whim. It's that woman, she makes me act different. I don't like it. Maybe I should do something about this feeling. But what is this feeling anyway? Why do I feel so warm around her? Why am I not my usually cold-blooded self to her? So many damn questions! Maybe I should ask Hatori, but how?_

I sat down on my bed, trying to figure out my feelings. It was just after lunch time, so I had no meetings. It seemed like it would be impossible to sort out my thoughts by myself, so I decided to ask Hatori. I stopped a servant in the hallway and had them summon the raven haired man. When he arrived, he bowed to me and stood there, waiting for me to speak. I looked up at him, and opened my mouth, a bit nervous to be asking something like this.

"Hatori, you've experienced many feelings before, right? You weren't always an emotionless robot." I said.

"Yes, sir. I have." he said. His expression was blank, and professional.

"Have you ever felt anything... warm for someone in particular?" I asked. It seemed like a bizarre question, but the slight smirk on Hatori's face did not go unnoticed.

"May I ask who it is you feel warm towards?" he asked me. I turned my head away from him to hide any emotion that slipped past me blank mask.

"No you may not." I said. It was frustrating asking something like this.

"Well, if it happens to be Miss Thompson, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I have a feeling she feels the same way as you do." he said. I stood up and glared at the man.

"Who said anything about that woman? I never did! I could've been talking about someone else!"

"I highly doubt you could have a crush on anyone else, sir. You despise any other woman besides he and her mother. You've done so much for Miss Thompson and her family. It'd be weird if you didn't care for her." I thought for a moment, but shook the many more questions that came and pointed towards the doorway.

"Get out." Hatori nodded his head and walked towards the doorway. just before he shut it on his way out, he spoke up again.

"You can't run from your feelings. Just ask her about it. Even though you're bound to die young, I'm sure she'd cherish you all the same." as soon as the sliding door shut, I hear Hatori's phone ring. "Hello, Miss Thompson."

 _Annabelle?_ I walked closer to the door and listened in on Hatori's side of the conversation.

"Are you alright? You should a bit shaken up. Yes I'll come get you now." I threw the sliding door open and looked at him.

"I'm coming with you."

* * *

Anna's POV*

 _Shit! Why was he there? Why is he_ here? _He should be in America!_

I had ignored the man's conversation, not wanting to talk to him at all, and bought the things I wanted for a snack. I tried walking outside, but settled on calling Hatori to come pick me up instead. I couldn't risk walking home by myself with Roy now in Japan.

I could hear footsteps coming up behind me, and a low voice call out. My body trembled slightly, knowing exactly who those footsteps and that voice belonged to. Roy stood next to me as he spoke up.

"I missed you, Little Anna. We should catch up." he said in a sickeningly sweet tone. I took a step to my left, putting some distance between us. We were now standing outside the grocery store, me waiting fr my ride, him being a total creep. "Don't be like that. I'll give you a ride home so you don't have to wait for your ride."

"Piss off." I said. He stood directly in front of me, opening his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a car pulling up and a man stepping out. To my surprise, it was-

"Akito." I mumbled. He walked up to me, standing protectively at my side. Hatori turned the car off and came out as well.

"I'm sorry, Miss Thompson. He heard me talking to you on the phone and insisted on coming. You know I'm not allowed to say no to the family head." Hatori said. I looked over at Akito, then back at Hatori. I could feel myself slightly relaxing, but not enough to hide my visible shaking and scared facial expression. "Are you alright?" he and Akito turned their attention to Roy, who was watching with a very scary look in his eyes.

"May I ask who you are?" Akito asked the man.

"I'm an old friend of hers." he said smoothly. Akito and Hatori both were not convinced.

"Then might I ask why you're here?"

"I'm here to reconnect with Little Anna." Akito visibly cringed at the nickname. True, I was always a short person, and that's why he called me that, but that didn't male the situation any better.

"You will do none of the sort. I forbid it." Akito said sternly. I looked up at him. _Akito?_

"None of the sort? Do you know who I am? I'm the heir to a famous company in America!" Roy shouted. He was starting to get very angry, and it was making me shake even more in fear. Akito rested his hand on the small of my back, as if to reassure me that he was going to protect me.

"Do _you_ know who _I_ am? I am the head of the Sohma family. I _am_ the owner of a third of the major companies in Japan. I suggest you not come to my country and try to one up me." his hand snaked to my waist and began to pull me towards the car. "Now then, we're leaving." Hatori took my bag and put it in the passenger seat with Akito and I and drove off. As soon as we were out of Roy's sight, I broke down.

"Annabelle, would you mind telling me why that boy was talking to you? Was he the reason why you were so shaken up?" Hatori asked as he drove. he kept his eyes n the road, so he didn't see me when I nodded my head. Akito spoke up for him.

"I'm going to tell your brother when we get back. Judging from how close you two are, he probably knows what happened."

As soon as we got back to the estate, we headed for Jake's room. I flung my arms around the red head and sobbed into his shoulder.

"What the hell did you do to my sister?!" the usually quiet man asked Akito angrily. Hatori spoke up for him.

"This was not his doing."

"Then who the hell did it?!" he shouted. I mumbled the man's name, my voice shaking as muh as the rest of me as I did so.

"Roy.." Jake's whole body tensed. He knew exactly what that man had done to me before I moved to Japan. His strong arms tightened around my torso, and he led me to his bed, allowing me to lay there. Once he had the covers over me, he crouched down in front of me and patted my head. He was treating me like a child, but at the moment I was too scared to care.

"I'm gonna go have a talk with these guys. I'll be right back." and with that he left the room.

* * *

Akito's POV*

As soon as the sliding door closed, Akito led them to a private room, knowing very well that this should be a private conversation.

"So, what happened between Annabelle and this Roy man?" Hatori asked. Jake sighed, and sat on the floor, legs criss crossed.

"A lot." he took another deep breath before looking at the two of them. "Anna met Roy in her first year of highschool. They became friends, and one day she told me she had a crush on him. I told her to be careful, but she didn't listen. She asked him out, and they began dating."

"Get to the point, brat." Akito said, visibly impatient.

"You know, I don't have to tell you all this. I usually don't talk much, so consider yourself lucky." he closed his eyes and continued on. "Anyway, after a few months, things got bad. He was overprotective, and didn't let her go home right after school. Of course, our father beat her for it, but she did it for him. Things got to the point where he'd convince her to sneak out for him. One night he came home with ripped clothes, crying her eyes out. I asked her what happened, and she told me that Roy had raped her." Jake's knuckles were white from clenching them so hard.

"He raped her?!" both Hatori and I said simultaneously. Jake nodded his head.

"But that wasn't even the worst of it. Six weeks later, she's throwing her guts up. She didn't even come to school some days. we finally took her to the doctor, who then told us she was pregnant."

"Pr-pregant?!" I was seriously having trouble believing that the man really got her knocked up.

"Yeah.." Jake looked to be on the edge of tears. "When Roy found out, he beat her to the brink of death. She barely survived, and was stuck in the hospital for a week."

"And the baby?" asked Hatori.

"Gone, she miscarriaged." i stood up, having enough of hearing about such a horrible story. I had a lot of respect for Jake now, he had been through the whole thing with Anna. I also now understood why he was so protective of her. _That Roy is going to die._ I stormed out of the room, and headed back for Jake's room, where Anna was still laying in his bed. I slid the door open and walked over to the bed. I kneeled down and took a good look at her tear soaked face. It was beat red and puffy. I didn't blame her after all the shit she'd been put through.

I had to admit it now, I had grown fond of this woman, no matter how much I tried to deny it. There was no running away from it anymore. I was not about to let someone hurt her again. As I gazed into her eyes, I vowed to protect her with everything I had.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Fucking creep." she said. I guessed it was just to break the awkward silence.

"Apparently me being a creep is the least of your worries." she looked away from me, burying her face into the covers and sobbing once again. "Anna, I will not let him touch you." _Here I go, getting all sentimental and sappy. I really hate being nice sometimes._

"How do you know he's not gonna sneak in here and kidnap me? You don't know what he's capable of!" she said. She wasn't shouting.

"Do you remember who you're talking to? I'm the head of the Sohma family. I will make sure this man doesn't get to you."

And so I did. I called the police department and made sure to have an officer standing in front of the estate and another in front of their school when it was in session. I also called for the Sohmas that went to school with Anna. Soon enough, Yuki, Kyo, Hastuharu and Momiji arrived. It was late at night, but I made sure to mention Anna's name to get them here quicker. Once Kyo and Yuki were there, seeing that they lived outside of the estate, I began the meeting.

"I'm sure you all are wondering why I called you here. The only thing I mentioned was that it was about Annabelle." I said. Momiji spoke up.

"Is Anna okay?"

"That's why I summoned you all. She's gotten herself into some trouble and I need you to protect her." I said.

"Oh my god, Did she rob a bank or somethin'?!" Momiji asked. I shook my head.

"No it's not anything illegal." I looked at all of them and began to explain.

"There is a man named Roy in town. I need you all to make sure he doesn't go near her. He came to Japan from America to see Annabelle."

"Okay, so the guy misses her. So what?" Kyo asked. I shook my head.

"If you all wish to know the details of what happened between them, ask her brother Jake. But for now, all I can tell you is that she is terrified of the man."

"Why is she scared of him?" Kyo asked. Haru spoke up.

"Kyo, I don't think you should-"

"Ah shut up, Moo Man! I didn't ask you." Kyo said. Haru's soft grey eyes changed to a sharp grey-black.

"Way to go, cat. Black Haru's out again." Yuki said. Haru blew up on Kyo.

"Who the hell are you calling Moo Man, huh? At least my zodiac counts you good for nothing cat!"

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOTS!" I shouted. Hatori stepped into the room along with Jake. I looked at them both in question as the others settled back down.

"I thought I'd bring Jake here to explain what happened." and so he did. Jake told everyone in the room about how Roy raped Anna and then killed their baby. The four sitting before me were furious.

"He seriously did all that to her?!" Kyo was furious, and black Haru to his left was just as bad, though with more colorful words.

"That fucking shit for brains! I'm gonna make sure he takes a long walk off a short cliff." while Kyo and Haru were freaking out, Yuki was in a bit of a morbid mood, feeling pity for the woman.

"Poor Anna, she must be having a hard time right now."

"Wahhhh! Anna!' Momiji cried. Everyone as reacting horribly to the situation. Akito decided to speak up.

"Enough!" he yelled. Everyone automatically stopped and looked at the raven. "You are not allowed to discuss this with her, nor are you allowed to let her know that you know unless the man shows up."

"What? Why not?" Kyo asked. Black Haru smacked him upside the head.

"Because, dimwit. She'll freaking cry."

"Haru's right. We can't let her find out unless it's absolutely necessary. Just act natural around her." Yuki said.

* * *

Anna's POV*

After the holidays were over, everyone seemed to settle down a bit more, including me. I knew school was starting back up, but I didn't really mind it at all as long as I didn't have to see Roy there.-

Jake and I walked to the car in silence. Akito said he'd be going with us to and from school by car from now on. Honestly, I was a bit happy that he actually cared about me. I was also a bit annoyed though that he had become a bit of a Jake when it came to where I went and who I was with. Akito was already waiting in the car for us, ready to go. He asked me if he should start going back o school again for my sake, but he had already had enough education. I told him to stay home, and that he should stop worrying so much. I had calmed down, and could hold my own in a fight against the man now.

When we got to school, Akito stepped out, Jake following behind. The red head had helped me out of the car while Akito talked to the police officer he stationed in front of the school. I told him we had to go to our first class, and he waved us off.

My first step inside, and I was already bombarded by a very enthusiastic Tohru.

"Anna, guess what?" she asked, beaming in front of me. Saki and a smirking Arisa were standing a ways behind her. "Kyo asked me on a date!"

"That's great!" I said. I pulled her into a hug and she jumped up and down in my arms, causing me to do the same. "Okay, okay. You can stop that now."

She let go of me and gave me an awkward laugh.

"Guess where he's taking the lucky girl?" Arisa asked me. I looked over at her.

"Where?" I asked. She smirked and gave Tohru a glance.

"Their house. He's gonna make her dinner there." she said. My jaw dropped and I turned my attention to the brunette.

"Are you fucking serious? I'm gonna have a talk with this boy about how to treat a woman, because we all know there is _no way_ that cat can cook." I could hear Tohru calling me from behind, pleading with me not to do it, but I was going to do it anyway. I made my way down the hallway, Jake following closely behind me like a bodyguard. I slammed the classroom door open and made my way over to the group of Sohma's having a chat in the far corner. My loud entrance caught the attention of all the students in the room, and even a few lingering in the halls. "You stupid cat!" I shouted. I grabbed the collar of the orangette and pulled him down for a glare war. "Do you seriously not know what a date is?! Taking a woman to your kitchen that you share with her and making her burnt ramen is _not_ a date, it's torture! Take her to a freaking movie or something! Take her _out_ to eat! Take her on a walk through the park!"

"Uh, a walk? You do know it's January, right? I don't know how to date women! It's impossible to get me to do that without making myself look like an idiot!" Kyo spat back. I gave him a sweet smile, but my next words were definitely not sweet.

"Honey, you _are_ an idiot the way you plan dates." Kyo pulled himself away from my grasp and brushed himself off.

"Fine, then why don't you go find yourself a date and go with us so you can make sure this goes smoothly." he said. My glare turned into a look of confusion.

"What?"

"I said to find yourself a date. If we make this a double date, you can plan it and make sure I don't make a total fool of myself.

"And who do you suggest I take on this date?" I asked him, crossing my arms.

"Take Haru." he said.

"What?!" I exclaimed. Said male was listening to the conversation, but hadn't spoken up until now.

"Why me? Yuki is much better at treating women right."

"Yeah, but _Prince Yuki_ will piss me off eventually." the orangette sighed. Said 'prince' decided it was his turn to speak up, saying something none of us would ever expect.

"I think Miss Thompson should go with Akito." I looked over at the silver haired man with wide eyes. Kyo's jaw practically dropped to the floor. He continued on with his thought. "With all due respect, Miss Thompson, I think Akito would be the better peron to go on a dae with you seeing how you like him so much."

My heart stopped for a moment. There it was, the word I hadn't want to admit yet. _Like._ I still had no idea how I really felt about the man, but like seemed to fit the shoe pretty well. I wasn't able to respond with neither a yes or a no at that statement. I took a deep breath, looking up at Kyo.

"If I ask Akito to join us, will you realy let me pick the plae out?" I asked. Kyo shook his head.

"Hell no! There is no way I'm going on a double date with that asshole!" The orangette said.

"I think it's a great idea to go on a double date with Akito and Anna. It'd give us a chance to all bind together." Another voice spoke up. We all turned to see Tohru walking our way, followed by Arisa and Saki.

"Bu-but... Fine." Kyo looked defeated. H was not about to go against the wishes of the woman he likes. And so, now it was my turn to do something unexpected. I had to ask Akito out on a double date. _Oh boy, this is going to be nerve wracking._


	7. Chapter 7

_Shit..._

I walked up to the sliding door in front of me. It was the only thing separating me from the one person in the estate I didn't want to see. Akito. I didn't want to ask him out, it made me really nervous. I knocked twice on the door, waiting for an answer.

"State your name." Akito said. I sighed and gave him a look, though he couldn't see it through the door.

"It's me." I said.

"Enter." he said. I slid the door open, stepped in and walked over to him. He was pacing in front of his bed, back and forth.

"Akito, what's up? You look pretty stressed." I sat down on his bed, looking up at him. His forehead was scrunched up and his thumb and index finger was pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It's nothing." he said. I swung my legs on the side of the bed and continued to watch him. He finally looked down at me, but looked away. I was about to speak up, to ask him on the date. _I have to do it now, or I'll never do it._ But then..

"A very important client of mine is asking me to marry his daughter." he said. My throat closed up on me, and my mouth gaped open. He looked back down at me, and then sat down next to me. His arm brushing against mine unfroze me and forced me to speak up.

"Are you going to do it?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No. I can't marry a woman if she doesn't know my family's secret. There's no telling what would happen once she found out. I can't take such a high risk, but I'm afraid this will hurt my relationship with my client."

"Hey, look on the bright side of things! At least you don't have to deal with an annoying woman all the time." I said. He gave me a look and scoffed.

"I have to deal with your annoying ass all the time." I gave him a light punch in the arm and smiled a bit.

"You don't have to, you choose to." I said. When he looked over at me our eyes locked.

"I guess you're right, what the hell was I thinking when I let you live with me?" he asked aNd for a second, I thought he was serious, but the look he gave me afterward proved otherwise. I pressed my lips together, biting down on them to suppress my nerves.

"You know, I used to call you a creep all the time."

"Correction, a _fucking_ creep. You're horrible at speaking properly to people you just met." I smiled at how he swore. He rarely cussed, so it was refreshing to see him talking like that whenever we were alone.

"Well anyway, I think you've changed a lot since then. We rarely kept a very good conversation back then."

"You speak as if it were years ago."

"It might as well be. From what I've been hearing, you've never gotten close to anyone your whole life. I'm the first, and even Hatori says he's never gotten you to sit down and talk about things without you getting angry." the raven bit his lip and thought for a moment.

"I guess you're right." silence passed over us, and I took it as my opportunity to ask him the question that's been running through my mind and keeping me nervous. I looked down at my hands and twirled my thumbs together to hide the shaking.

"Kyo and Tohru are going on a date this weekend." I began.

"So the cat finally decided to show his feelings." I nodded my head and continued on.

"Yeah, and he wants to make it a double date since he has no idea how to plan a date." he looked down at me, and I kept my eyes away from him.

"Who does he want to tag along?" Akito asked.

"M-me.." I heard Akito sigh.

"And who are you taking with you?" he asked. I internally cursed at my cowardice, I was really freaking out, but managed to keep my cool on the outside.

"I-I was hoping you'd go with me." I said. He didn't say anything for awhile, just kept his eyes on me, and boy did I feel them melting me on the spot. I wasn't sure whether or not to look up at him, so I kept my eyes at any other spot in the room I could see. A warm hand grabbed my chin and forced me to look into the dark eyes of Akito. I felt like they'd suck me in at any point, and I almost wanted them to.

"Are you asking me because you want to go with me, or because you can't find anyone else to go with?" he asked me. I opened my mouth to speak, but I choked. All the words I wanted to say, all the feelings I wanted to confess were eternally stuck with no way of getting out. I almost didn't notice him leaning closer, and just before our lips could touch-

"Anna?"

* * *

"Jake, please talk to me!" I followed after my red haired look alike down the hallway. He was the one who saw Akito and I almost kiss. I wanted to tell him it wasn't a big deal, even though my heart couldn't have been beating any harder than it was then, but he refused to look back at me. He tried to shut his sliding door on me, but I forced it back open and stepped inside his room. "Jake, you can't ignore me forever. I'm your sister for fucks sake!"

"I have nothing to say. If you want to be with that guy I can't stop you."

"But-" he turned around and gave me a stern look.

"However, I refuse to see him as a good man. I don't care if he put you in his freaking will, he still treats you horribly."

"Jake, it's not his fault." the red head looked way and sat on his bed. "He's been an outcast in his family for years. Violence was the only way to get people to actually notice him, and it stuck with him. But he has changed, he's a lot nicer to people now."

"Alright, fine. He's nicer, but still an asshole even though he did offer us a lot. You see the way he treats his family." I clenched my fists and bit down on my lip hard."

"Are you forgetting that Roy treated people perfectly, yet still managed to rape me, get me pregnant and then beat me until i lost the baby?" I could see from the side the Jake's facial expression had changed. He looked over at me with sad eyes. "Akito may have treated me horribly, and he may still not treat me like a freaking princess. But he still treats me better than you think, and he refuses to hurt me now, I can tell because he'll barely even touch me usually when I'm around." I stood up straighter, chin up, and began walking out the room. "Don't forget what I've had to deal with in the past is way worse, and i actually like the way Akito treats me, he's very gentle when he needs to be."

"Akito, I'm sorry that took so long." I said returning to his room. He was still sitting on the bed in the same position as when I left.

"Is your brother angry at you?" he asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know anymore. He was at first, but I set him straight." he kept his eyes away from me, mouthing a silent 'oh'. "Since when did you care about what my brother thinks?" Akito stood up and ran a hand through his raven hair.

"Do you still want me to go with you on that double date?" he asked me, completely blocking my question with another one. I nodded my head, feeling the heavy air lighten just a bit and rest its weight on my shoulders. I had been waiting for his answer, but it was cut short by an interruption. "I accept your invitation. Make sure to give me the details of what we will be doing." Akito began walking out of his room, but I stopped him.

"It's going to be dinner and a movie. I know it's simple, but I really don't want to spend so much money on a fancy date." the raven looked down at me and nodded silently. I stood up to leave the room as well, seeing how it wasn't even mine. "It'll be Friday night, and please dress like a normal person. A kimono will just stand out too much."

* * *

 **Change of plans, I'm gonna do the other chapter asap, but this weekend has been way too hectic with homecoming, blurriecon and I have a major cooking project due wednesday in my cooking class so i also have to do that. But I promise you I will get it done!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know, I'm terrible. I might change my update times from thursday to the weekend. Anyway, I have a long chapter for you lovelies tonight, and another one tomorrow. I know you guys are gonna hate me at the end of this chapter, and most of or all of the next. I REGRET NOTHING! LILLY OUT!**

* * *

"Dress normal huh?" Hatori said. I looked up at him, he was smirking ever so slightly. I felt a bit uncomfortable as he kept his eyes on me. It took a few moments for him to speak up again, after looking me up and down in deep thought. "Don't worry, I know exactly what you'll wear."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'll help you get the right outfit for the occasion."

"Like..?" this was making me more nervous by the second, which was a foreign feeling. That only made me freak out more. I had no idea what Hatori had in mind for my double date with Anna, but I didn't know if I wanted to find out about it.

"You'll see."

* * *

Anna's POV*

 _I'm so nervous, I don't even know if he dressed right for the occasion. I hope he found something a normal person would wear._

I waited in my room for Akito to arrive. I had just finished getting ready, and was fixing my outfit. I smoothed out my purple shirt and made sure my black leather jacket was on the way I wanted. I had also put on black leggings and light brown boots that went a bit above my ankle. My red hair was curled, and I decided to ask my mother for help on makeup. I never wore that stuff very often, but hey, girls are girls.

A knock on my door brought me from my thoughts, and my hands began to tremble. I was sure it was the raven, which made me both excited and scared at what he thought of the way I look. I walked over to the sliding door and opened it. The sight I saw left me speechless. Akito was wearing black jeans, and a red turtleneck sweater, covered halfway by his coat. He wore black combat boots, and I stood there in awe at the sight of him. He looked normal, and amazing.

He seemed to be in the same situation as me, silently staring at my outfit. I could feel my cheeks redden, and it would've been even redder had I not decided to wear makeup. He was the first to recover.

"Do I look that bad?" he asked. I shook my head.

"N-no! It looks great! I guess I was just a bit surprised." I exhaled all my nerves away. "It suits you."

"Th..thanks." he turned his head a bit to hide the blush that formed on his face, but I saw it nevertheless. "You too."

"What?" I tilted my head, and I could tell he was getting frustrated with me.

"That outfit suits you as well." he said. I could feel my blush deepening, so I decided to hide my nerves and get on with our date.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go pick up Kyo and Tohru!" I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down the hallway towards the front door. Once we left the estate in our usual black car, we drove down to get the others. Tohru was waiting outside when we arrived, Kyo just stepping out. The brunette was wearing a baby blue skirt, and a gray shirt. She had gray knee high socks on and finished it off with small black heels. Kyo wore a red shirt, black jeans with matching combat boots and a deep red coat.

They stepped inside the car, and we drove off to our first destination.

"Wow, Anna. You look so cute!" the brunette said. I smiled at her.

"So do you, Tohru. I wish i could pull off a skirt as well as you can." the brown eyed girl shook her head at me.

"What are you talking about? You look great in a skirt. I see you in a skirt every day at school."

"Why are you girls talking about skirts? Does that honestly entertain you?" a certain orangette interrupted. I whipped my head around to face him and gave him a glare.

"Now, Kyo. I know I beat you multiple times at arm wrestling, but I _am_ a girl, you know." before I knew it, the man was reaching for me. Though he stopped at the deadly glare from a certain raven on the other side of me. He even cowered away at the man. I turned my head and gave Akito a thankful smile. One we arrived at the restaurant, we walked in and took a seat at a booth. It was a cheap place to eat, but not to cheap. It was called Yoongi's. I had no idea why it was called that, but I didn't question it. I had eaten here before, and was quite satisfied with the place. The waiter soon arrived, and gave us each a menu.

"Hello, my name is Yukiya. I'll be your waiter for the evening. Can I start you guy off with some drinks?" the man asked, pulling out a small notebook and pencil.

"We'll just have some water." I said. Everyone looked at me in confusion. "I want you guys to really taste the meals here. They're pretty great." they all let it slide, surprisingly. The waiter left us to get our drinks while we looked at our menus. Kyo and Tohru kept to themselves as they looked at the menu, but Akito was looking at it like he couldn't read.

"What's Kimchi?" he asked. I couldn't hold back my laughter at the way he was acting.

"You'll have that. It's korean food, and it's really good." after a few more minutes of deciding what to eat, the waiter came back. I ordered both mine and Akito's food while Kyo and Tohru ordered theirs. Honestly, they seemed to be more nervous than I was to be on a date. It was kind of cute the way they avoided eye contact at all costs. Every time they looked up at the other to talk, they'd stop mid sentence, and Kyo would go red. Akito and I on the other hand, we were fine for the most part. I had been to dinner with him before many times, though I admit this time was a lot different. We were a bit awkward sometimes with our conversations, but we all managed to enjoy ourselves.

"Akito, I had no idea you could dress so casually. I like you better like this." Tohru said. I nodded my head.

"I was just a surprised as you are."

"I dress myself in more than just my kimonos. I wear suit when I go on business trips. I just don't dress like this." the raven said, arms folded.

"I think you should wear casual clothes more often. It makes you look... like a man." I said He turned his had and looked down at me.

"Are you implying that I don't look like a man in a kimono?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Let me rephrase. You look like a man of this century." Kyo cracked up at my words.

"Pfffft!" Akito gave me a glared, and then Kyo.

"At least I'm not a good for nothing cat!"

"What did you say? At least I had the guts to admit I like a girl instead of hiding my feelings with violence!" Kyo shouted. Akito really hit a nerve.

"Akito, stop it!" I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. It worked pretty well. Tohru did the same thing to the orangette. "Don't forget that we're out on a date in public." I could feel something grab the side of my shirt, and looked down to see that it was Akito's hand. When I spotted it, he loosened his grip a bit, but kept it there. I looked up at him, and saw him visibly calming himself down, not even trying to hide it. I put my hand on his shoulder and kept my eyes on him until he let me go. Kyo was in the same boat, but Tohru grabbed his hand despite her red face and got him to keep his mouth shut.

After our dinner was served, the atmosphere seemed to lighten up a bit as Tohru and I talked. The guys would comment occasionally, and finally they got back to talking normally by the time our plates were empty. The guys split the bill and we all left the restaurant, excited for the movie we were about to see. By the time we got to the theater, people were already buying their tickets for the movie we had picked out. I stepped up to the ticket booth and spoke to the man.

"Four tickets to Guns and Zombies please." I said. Akito stepped up next to me.

"Allow me to pay for the tickets." he said. I looked up at him and thought for a moment.

"Fine, but I'm buying the snacks." he gave the man the money for the tickets and we all walked inside. Tohru gave me a scared look, so I smiled back at her. "Kyo picked the movie, not me. If you get scared you can always hold onto him." Akito chuckled next to me, and I started laughing too when I saw the redness on Kyo's and Tohru's faces.

"Th-th-that's.. I-I don't w-want him to transf-form!" she stuttered.

"Let's get some snacks." I said. We all walked up to the line of people getting food and waited our turn to buy hat we wanted. Kyo and Tohru went first, Tohru buying them popcorn, drinks and a couple other things. Then it was my turn to get food. I bought a large popcorn and two large sodas. Akito tilted his head when he saw the popcorn.

"What is this?" he asked. I smiled and grabbed a piece. I brought it up to his mouth.

"Open." I commanded. He narrowed his eyes at me and kept his mouth shut. I handed my soda and used my now free hand to grab the raven's chin to force him to look directly at me. "I said to open your mouth. Come on, it's good." I could see the look in his eye change to something I couldn't identify, but he opened his mouth. I smiled and put the popcorn inside his mouth. He chewed it for a moment, still giving me the same look I couldn't figure out.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

"Is it good?" when he nodded his head. "Then yes."

I took back my soda from Kyo and we all walked towards the theater room. We found our seats at the very top of the theater and sat down, Akito on my left, Kyo on my right, and Tohru on his right. After a few more minutes of waiting for the movie to start, the lights dimmed and the screen changed to black. The movie began, and it started out like all the other zombie movies. The world was normal, and society seemed to be going fine. Soon the first zombie was made when some idiot scientist decided to test a bunch of drugs on a man at once. Blah blah blah, the zombie ate the scientist and the apocalypse had started. I was already getting bored of the predictable plot. The only thing that kept me awake was the man next to me moving lightly closer.

I heard a slight squeal at 'supposed to make you jump' part, and then a poof. Akito and I both looked over to see Tohru holding onto an orange cat for dear life. No one else really noticed, since we were the only ones in the very top row, and the theater was very dark. When she finally came to her senses, I was already almost crying from laughing so hard. I had muffled my laughs with my hand, and hunched over to my left.

When I looked up, Akito looked furious at Kyo. Tohru had faced away from the cat, waiting for him to turn back into a human. Once Akito turned back to look at me, we both froze. I couldn't look away from him, especially not with the way he was gazing back into my eyes. It reminded me of the time we almost kissed, it was the same look, like he really wanted to keep looking at me, like I was the only thing he'd evey want to see. I was so mesmerized by his eyes that I jumped in surprise by the poof that sounded behind me. It was Kyo transforming back into a human.

 _Of course Kyo had to ruin the moment._ A little while after Kyo put his clothes back on, we continued to watch the movie. A group of survivors had formed, and they were now both surviving against the zombies, and another group. I decided it was a good time to start eating the popcorn, and reached my hand over to grab some. However, when I did, my hand brushed something else. I looked over, and it was a pale hand. Akito's hand.

 _Well damn, don't I feel like I'm in a movie.._ He was the first to recover from the small encounter. He went back to grabbing a small handful of popcorn and took his had away to pop some into his mouth. I on the other had, lingered there for a moment. I did eventually grab some and go back to watching the movie though. Once the movie was finally over, we all walked out of the theater together. The car was already waiting for us when we got there, it probably never left. We all hurried to the door, and Akito held his hand out to help me into the back seat. Once we were out of the cold and inside the warm car, the driver started the car up. Kyo and Tohru were the first to be dropped off. They thanked us for the great date before stepping out of the car. Of course, Shigure had been waiting for them. I had met him at the christmas party. The car quickly dropped in temperature, even when they shut the door. I could feel myself shiver, and I began rubbing my arms. Suddenly, I felt very warm as an arm wrapped around mine. Akito was trying to warm me up. I leaned into his warm body, and smiled at how nice he was being. It surprised even me at how much of a gentleman he really was.

 _I guess when you develop feelings for someone, it can really change you._ We soon reached the estate, and went inside. He walked me all the way to my room. We faced each other.

"Thanks for warming me up in the car." I said. He nodded.

"Thank you for inviting me out." I gave him a smile.

"It was fun. Besides, I wanted you to go with me." I said. My cheeks were a light shade of pink as I said that. He reached down and took my hand, bringing it up to his lips, just like he did at the christmas party.

"I look forward to going out again." he said. The moment his lips touched the skin on the back of my hand, a shiver surged up and down my spine. after what seemed to be the best moment ever, he released my hand and made his way down the hallway. I opened the sliding door to my room and stepped inside.

* * *

The very next day, Jake came into my room and pressed me for answers.

"Did he hurt you in any way while you guys were out?" he asked. I shook my head quickly.

"No, he was actually more of a gentleman than I've ever seen him."

"What did you guys do?"

"Well, we went to dinner, and then we watched a movie." he kept silent as he urged me to keep going. I sighed and clutched the pillow I was holding. "It was a lot of fun. We went to Yoongi's to eat, and Kyo and Akito started to get into it, but Tohru and I stopped them. Then we went to the movie theater and Akito paid for our tickets. The movie was boring, but it was fun being there. And then we dropped off the lovebirds, and the car got cold after the door was left open. And he.. he put his arm around me to warm me up." Jake lay back on my bed and heaved a great sigh.

"As long as he didn't hurt you in any way, I'm happy." he said. I hid the blush on my cheeks with my pillow.

 _I'm really falling for him, aren't I?_

* * *

Seeing Akito after that was a bit awkward, especially when we were alone. But I still enjoyed hanging out with him after that. He was a lot nicer to me, and everyone else in the estate. He started letting me join him in a few important meetings so I could help him with business. School was going great as well. Things seemed to be going wonderful...

* * *

Jake and I walked together to the car, waiting for Akito to step out and greet us like always before he helped me into the car. However, this time he wasn't there. The driver stepped out of the car and opened up the door for us.

"Mr. Sohma is very busy at the moment, so he told me to go ahead and pick you up without him." the man said. Something was very off about the situation. It wasn't any of our usual drivers, nor was Hatori there. Usually Hatori would go on the days he raven couldn't. I looked over at Jake, who was giving me a skeptical look. I nodded and stepped back a step.

"I think we'll just walk home with Haru and Momiji this time." I said. Haru and Momiji walked over to us when they heard their names being brought up in our conversation.

"Please Miss. Mr. Sohma said to return with you." the man said. I looked at Jake again.

"Well, I guess we have to go then." I said. I took the drivers outstretched hand and put one foot in the car. Before I could fully get inside, my cellphone went off. I pulled it out and took my foot back on the ground. The caller ID said Akito. I pressed answer and put the phone to my ear. "Hey."

"Annabelle. I apologize for being late. We got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to your school." the raven said. My eyes widened.

"What?"

"We'll be there very soon, so please go wait inside the school." Akito said. I could feel my hands begin to shake.

"A-Akito, please hurry!" I said. I stepped away from the car quickly and grabbed onto Jake's arm. I pulled him along with me to stand next to Haru and Momiji.

"Annabelle, are you alright?" Akito asked. I could hear Jake asking me the same thing.

"I-I think I was about to be-" I was cut off by the sound of men. I turned back to see three large men filing out of the car and rushing towards us.

"Run!" Haru yelled. Jake spent no time standing around. He grabbed my hand and started running at full speed. We ran back into the school, Akito yelling into my ear the whole time.

"Anna, what's going on?!" he asked. Once we were running down the hallway inside, I finally spoke up to him.

"We're being chased!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Ayeeee I actually kept my word this time on when I'll update yeahhhh. But anyway, I'll probably keep my update days to Thursday, so yeahhh. I REGRET NOTHING IN THIS CHAPTER. And I'm hoping to get this story done in two more chapters, but it might be three. Either way, this is coming to an end soon. Sooooo yeah! Enjoy! Lilly out!**

* * *

My heart was racing. I didn't know what to do. I had lost where Jake had gone, and I was trying to find a place to hide. I could hear the sirens in the distance, probably the police. Akito must've called them. He told me to put my phone on vibrate and wait for his call. I just kept running, until I finally came to the auditorium. I felt my phone vibrate in my hand, and answered it, keeping my voice low.

"Akito.."

"Anna, where are you right now?" he asked. I took a deep breath and looked around the room to find a place to hide. I could hear footsteps down the hallway.

"In the auditorium."

"When I was still going to your school, I found a hidden place in there. Go onto the stage, and behind the left curtain." he said calmly. I rushed up the stairs and behind the curtain.

"Okay I'm here." I whispered.

"Look down and find the trap door. It leads to underneath the stage." he said. I looked down, and didn't see a thing.

"I don't see it!"

"You'll see a faint square in the floorboard. There will be a tiny handle on the edge." I searched and searched, and I could hear the footsteps entering the auditorium. I kept myself quiet, still looking. _Found it!_

Just like the raven said, there was a square outlining, and i lifted it up as quietly as I could. I crawled down inside it, and shut it behind me. Once I was in, I whispered as quietly as I could.

"I'm in!"

"Good, the police are on their way, so just wait in there until they come. Don't open it up for anyone, the others have already been found by the police and are safe." he said. I was about to say something else, but I heard the footsteps walking around directly above me. I mumbled even more quietly than the last time.

"They're here.."

"I want you to stay quiet, and keep me on the phone until I get there. I'm almost to the school now." he said. I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see it.

"Where the hell did she go?" one of the men above me asked.

"I don't know, but we better keep looking. Roy won't like it if we lost his little girlfriend." my heart stopped when I heard his name.

"I'll look in some more classrooms, you go upstairs and check there."

"Got it." after a few moments, the footsteps were gone. They had left the auditorium.

"They're gone." I said. I still kept my voice low.

"Good." Akito said. I sighed a shaky sigh.

"Akito, the men that are trying to kidnap me, they work for Roy." I said. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I was ready to cry, and the only thing that was keeping me from losing it was Akito's calm voice.

"Don't worry, I just reached the school. I'm coming in now with a few officers." he said.

"Okay.." I finally let a few tears fall, and let my tense shoulders drop. knowing that Akito was coming to get me was a great relief.

"Annabelle, I'm not going to let that man touch you. I'm going to hang up now, so stay put." he said.

"Okay."

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the trap door. _Akito!_ I lifted the trap door, and saw someone that was Akito.

"I knew I heard you down there." the man said. It was one of the ones that was chasing me. I slammed the door shut and started running. It was a small space, so I had to crouch down a bit, but it was convenient for me that I was small. The large man made his way down and had to crawl around in order to move. I ran as fast as I could until I spotted another half door in the wall. I opened it and slammed it shut. I even went as far as locking it before I took off again. I ran towards the front of the school and, on my way, almost ran right into another one of Roy's men. he reached out to grab me, so I ducked at the last second and just barely slipped past him. It gave me just enough of a head start, even though he was faster than me. I turned a corner, and spotted Akito along with the few police officers he brought with him. He met me halfway down the hallway and I ran right into his arms, almost tackling him to the ground. The officers saw the man that had been chasing me and drew their guns and pointed them at him.

"Police! Hands in the air!" one of them shouted. Akito kept his arms around me in a tight embrace.

"A-Akito, Th-they heard me t-talking and found me. I-I tried t-to keep quiet, I-I really did!" I was shaking so much from fear and adrenaline. I was surprised I could even stand. Akito shushed me and held me tighter.

"Shhh, you're safe now." he kissed the top of my head. "You're safe."

* * *

My mother had been notified about what had happened, and she took a car to pick up my little brother from school early. Akito summoned my family, and all of his that attend my school. we left Derek with Hatori, though. So Yuki, Haru, Kyo, Momiji, Jake, Akito, Mother and I all stood around in the meeting room. Akito spoke up, his voice full of authority.

"I'm sure you all know why I summoned you here. You were all either at school when it happened today or notified of what went on." we all listened to what the raven had to say. Even Kyo was being quiet this time. "The only thing that you all weren't allowed to know was who cause it." he looked directly at me, silently asking permission to continue. I nodded my head, and he continued on. "It was Roy's doing."

"What? Roy? Are you talking about the man who my daughter dated back in america?" my mother asked. Akito nodded, and my mother laughed. "Oh, honey. that man is halfway around the world. He couldn't have caused this. Jake spoke up.

"No, mom. He's here, and he's trying to steal Anna away from us." the red head said. My mother immediately stopped laughing, and the look on her face made me wish what Jake said weren't true even more than I already did.

"Anyway, I have decided to join your school once again. I'll make sure to get all the same classes as Annabelle as well." Akito said. Kyo looked pissed.

"No way! I'm not going to be in the same school as you again!" Kyo said.

"You have no choice in the matter." the raven said. I just sighed and kept quiet. "Roy knows where Anna lives and goes to school, so no one can leave her alone. When I'm not around her, one of you will be. I'm also going to have a guard outside her room and window."

"Are you seriously that big of a pervert? You don't need some guy looking into her room all the time!" Kyo said.

"First of all, she has blinds to cover the window up. Second, I am not a pervert. Now back to the topic at hand. I will have a police officer at every door leading out of the school. There is no way this man is getting to Annabelle. Dismissed." everyone filed out of the room quietly. It was a short meeting, but I wasn't done talking to Akito. I waited for everyone to leave before I spoke up. "Are you going to go back to your room?"

"Akito, why are you doing all this? I don't deserve it." I said. He stepped a bit closer to me.

"If you don't know why I'm trying so hard to protect you, you really are an idiot." he said.

"But it's too much. I can't have you doing so much for my sake no matter the reason. Maybe I should just let Roy have me." Akito grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him.

"There is no way in hell I'd let that man so much as look your way."

"Akito, you don't get it. Roy isn't gonna stop until he gets me. The only other way is killing him."

"I can always arrange that." the raven said. I shook my head.

"No, I don't want you doing that for me!" I said, stepping back.

"I was kidding, Annabelle. You now better than anyone that I'm not the type to do that." he stepped closer to me, but I looked down at the floor. "Trust me on this, as long as you're with me he won't have you."

"And if you're wrong?"

"I'd rather not think about that, it pisses me off." I finally looked back up, and saw the expression on his face. He really was angry just thinking about me being with Roy. I felt horrible.

* * *

A whole week passed, and I was already feeling smothered with the attention I was getting by other students. People were not only staring, the females were glaring. When I wasn't with their precious Prince Yuki or their popular Kyo and their 'posse', I was with the hot new transfer student, Akito. Word got around quick that I must've been sleeping around with them, but Akito made sure to stop those rumors quick. He told everyone I was his girlfriend, and it just made the glaring worse. Yuki's fanclub wasn't after my head anymore, but the rest of the females were. It was suffocating, and I couldn't even go to the bathroom at school without having Akito or someone else standing outside the door waiting for me.

I was getting sick of it all, and I know that Akito knew it. When we got home, he'd let me be by myself if I wanted to, and of course I did. I locked myself in my room whenever I wasn't at school, refusing to come out for anything other than dinner and bathroom breaks. There was no talking to Akito or anyone else, the only person I'd keep a conversation with was Jake to complain about my life now that Roy was back in it.

"Anna, how are you holding up?" my red head look alike asked me. We sat down on my bed, me hugging my pillow yet again.

"Akito is really starting to get on my nerves about this whole thing. I don't know how much longer I can keep living like this."

"For once I agree with him, though. He's doing this to protect you." Jake said. I pulled the pillow closer to my chest.

"Maybe I don't want to be protected."

* * *

That night I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to make sure Akito didn't have to protect me anymore. I was done hiding behind everyone, it was my turn to take action. I put on my winter coat and boots after getting my everyday clothes on. Slipping a small knife into my boot, I stepped out of my room. I told the guard outside of my room that I was going to visit Hatori in his home, since he lived within the estate, the guard did question it and let me go. I then headed for the infirmary instead. I knocked on the front door of the home and waited for an answer. after a minute, the sliding door opened. A very tired looking Hatori poked his head out of the doorway.

"Miss Annabelle?" I bowed deeply to him before speaking.

"I apologize for coming so late at night, could I come in?"

"Alright." he opened the door a bit more for me, and allowed me to step inside. I went to his office, him following behind me. Once the door was shut and we were both settled down, him in his doctor's chair, me on one of the beds, I began.

"I have a favor to ask of you." I said. He gave me a slight nod and I continued. "I need you to help me sneak out of here."

"Sneak out? Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Because I there's something I have to do, but I can't do it with everyone up my ass all the time." Hatori seemed to take what I had said literally, because the look on his face made me crack a smile. "It's an expression. Anyway, will you help me?"

"You do realize that I could tell Akito of your plan, right? Then you wouldn't be able to go anywhere." he said. I smiled a bit wider.

"I know you won't do that, Hatori. I trust you. Please help me." the raven thought for a second. I prayed internally that he'd say yes.

"What happens when the snow melts?" he asked. I was taken aback for a moment.

"What?"

"I asked what happens when the snow melts?"

"Are you trying to change the subject?" I gave him a pouty look.

"Answer my question. If you answer it correctly, I'll help you."

"Uhh, okay?" I strained my brain, trying to think of the right answer. _There's only one thing that comes to mind, but is it right? I guess I'll just have to try it._ "You get spring, don't you?" his eyes went wide, and his mouth agape. He recovered finally and for the first time, I saw him smirk.

"Let's go."

"Wait, I need to do something else before we go." I pulled Hatori along with me by the arm and went back to my room. I wrote a quick letter down and rushed out the door. Hatori told the guard that he'd be taking me out for a bit, and I'd be back soon. He got me out of the gates, and walked me down the street a bit. Finally, after seeing me off, I poke up to the one person I knew was watching the whole time. "I know you're here, so come out." I waited. Minutes passed. "Damn it, Roy! Show yourself!" after a moment or two, out came a dark figure. It was a man, not Roy. He gestured for me to come with him, and I did. He took me to a van, and I climbed inside. The van drove off, and I was wedged between two large men. They tried grabbing onto me when the van stopped, an attempt to pull me out themselves, but I shook their arms off. "I don't need you to help me, I'm not gonna run."

After stepping out of the van, I looked up to see that we were in front of a hotel. The men escorted me inside and took me to the very top floor, where a certain asshole was waiting for me. I recognised his creepy smile anywhere.

"Hello, Little Anna. I knew you'd see the light and come back to me. Did that Sohma guy not give it to you well enough?" he asked. I kept myself quiet, and walked over to him. He snaked an arm around my waist, and it took everything i had to not push him away.

 _Roy. I promise, I will kill you._

* * *

*Akito's POV*

I woke up early, feeling a bit uneasy. I didn't know why I did, but my gut was never wrong. I got out of bed, and dressed myself quickly. After combing my hair, I walked down the hallway towards the dining room. Nothing seemed to be out of order, so I moved on. The servants I passed all bowed to me as I entered the meeting room. Nothing. I walked down to the Thompson family's rooms and knocked on Jake's room. He answered it, groggily, and gave me a glare.

"What do you want so early in the morning?" the red head asked. I furrowed my brows. This was getting frustrating.

"What in the world could be wrong?!" I asked myself, walking away from Jake's room. Finally, it hit me. _Annabelle._

I rushed down the hallway, and stared the guard down.

"Is she in there?" I asked. The guard shook his head, looking a bit uneasy.

"I was going to tell you after breakfast, sir. Miss Thompson left the estate with Mr. Hatori. One of the other guards told us that he came back, but she didn't." he dropped to the floor in a bow. "I am deeply sorry, sir! I have made a deadly mistake!" I raised my hand to hit the guard, but something in me had other plans. After keeping my hand in the air for awhile, I lowered it and instead opened her door. I stepped inside, looking to see if there was any sign of her, but there wasn't. I was about to leave the room when a small envelope caught my eye. It was addressed to me. I picked it up and tore it open to find a note.

 ** _I'm sorry._** **_-Anna_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sooo this is the second to last chapter. Yep, I'm trying to figure out how to end the last chapter. Smut scene? Or no smut scene? I won't post at all unless I get some feedbackkk you silent fans! Seriously though, I need to know whether or not to end it with smut. And btw, next chapter is going to be one of those aftermath episodes. Be prepares for some cute ish you guys! Enjoy! Lilly out!**

* * *

"What the HELL Hatori?!" I asked the man angrily. He had the nerve to let Annabelle go off on her own, so now he was going to hear from me.

"Akito, she asked me to do this." he said. I grabbed the nearest vase in the hallway and threw it at him. Of course, he knew I was going to do something drastic and violent, so he ducked in time for it to hit the wall instead. The sound of shattering echoed through the halls and caused a few servants to stop and stare.

"I don't care if she asked you that, you should've refused and reported it back to me!" I shouted. I was so angry that he went against my orders, I didn't notice the smirk that formed on his face. "What the hell are you smiling about?"

"Sir, I know where she is."

"What?! Where? How do you know?" I grabbed his collar and pulled him tauntingly towards me.

"I followed her when she thought I was gone. She followed a man into a van."

"And then?" he placed his hands gently on mine and pushed my hands away.

"And when the van drove off, I decided to use the tracking app to track her phone. She led us right to Roy."

* * *

Anna's POV*

"What do you want with me, Roy?" I asked him. He gave me his signature evil smirk. _Fucking creep._

"It's simple. I want you to come back to America and marry me."

"And if I don't?" he pulled me closer to him.

"Then, honey, you won't live long enough to see the sun rise." I bit my lip. He was really going to kill me if I refused, I knew that much.

"Fine." his smile got wider, and he pulled me down for a kiss. When I refused, his smile disappeared. He stood up, towering over me, and slapped me hard in the face. My head whipped to the right, and I swear I got whip lash.

"You don't refuse me when I want something, understood?" I nodded my head, holding my cheek with my hand. It felt hot, and I knew it would swell up. He grabbed my chin, and leaned in once again. I reluctantly accepted his kiss. "I'm sorry for hurting you, but you know you can't say no to me. Right, Little Anna?"

"Yes, sir." I mumbled. He smiled once again, and stroked my cheek.

"That's a good girl. Keep acting like that and you'll never get hurt by me again." he stepped away from me and gestured for me to follow him. "By boys called me in the middle of the night, so I had to get up from a wonderful dream. Make it up to me? It' been awhile." I followed him all the way back into the bedroom part of his suite, and kept my voice at a low mumble.

"Yes, sir." I sat on the bed, as instructed by him, and he sat down next to me once the door was closed. He took the liberty of taking my coat off for me, and began kissing me. It was disgusting. Him touching me, kissing me, all of it. He grabbed my breast with his left hand, and unbuttoned the first button of my blouse.

"Take your shoes off." he commanded. I nodded my head, and reached down to my right boot. I made sure to keep him occupied with kissing and undressing me as I pulled the knife out of my boot. I held it up, and thrust forward. I used all the strength I had, trying to plunge it into Roy's side. However, he grabbed my arm, and held it back an inch from him. "Ah ah ah, not nice."

"Screw you!"

"Gladly." I scoffed at him and used my other hand to try and push the knife in. He used his own strength to slowly turn the knife towards me. He used his other hand to help plunge the knife into my right arm.

"Gahh!" I lost strength in my right hand and let go of the handle to cradle my wound. He pulled the knife out, and pushed me down onto the bed. He brought the bloody knife to my throat.

"Now be a good girl and stop disobeying me." he forced his knee between my legs and pressed it up against my crotch. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "I'll make you scream my name before I'm done with you. Face it, I'm the best you'll ever have in bed." he continued unbuttoning the second button, then the third, fourth...

"Where is she?!" a shout came from the other room. Roy stopped what he was doing, and looked up at the door for a moment.

 _I know that voice.. Akito!_

"Police! Put your hands in the air!" another voice came from the other room.

"Well, I guess the fun will have to wait." Roy said. He pulled me off the bed, and held me from behind, knife still just barely drawing blood in small cuts on my throat. A few bangs rang, and the other room got a bit quieter. The door burst open, and in came four police officer, Hatori and Akito. All of them had guns, and all were pointed towards us. "Akito Sohma, we meet once again. What are the odds?"

"The odds are great when you have my woman." the raven said. My eyes widened just a bit, and tears threatened to escape. A chuckle from behind me kept them from coming out.

" _Your_ woman? She left you and came to me, so she isn't your woman at all. Now, please leave. We're busy having fun."

"I'm not going anywhere without Annabelle you pervert!" Akito shouted.

"I think you will." he took the knife off my throat and slid it slowly across my cheek, making a small cut there. "Unless, you want her pretty little face to be scarred." I had enough of it all. Enough of being the victim. Enough of being his play thing. Enough of being his anything. I found my opportunity, and I took it. I moved my good arm and my leg at the same time, pushing the knife out of my way and kicking him in the groin simultaneously. I started running from him immediately afterward.

"Duck, Anna!" Akito shouted. I did as I was told and dropped to the floor, holding my head in my arms and hands. The next thing I knew, guns rang out. My ears were ringing from all the noise, and suddenly everything was quiet besides the ringing. I looked back to see Roy dropping to his knees, looking directly at me. It all seemed surreal. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell forward onto the floor. He lay motionless, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Then everyone was on me, checking to make sure I wasn't hit with any bullets, making sure I wasn't bleeding out, which I was from my arm. Hatori forced everyone to step back so he could check me out himself.

"How did you find me?" I asked him. He gazed into my eyes, and spoke calmly.

"I followed you, and when you got in that van I tracked you." he said. I gave a weak laugh.

"I should've known you wouldn't really let me go."

After Roy was pronounced dead, his body was shipped back to the states. I was finally able to be anywhere I wanted freely. Roy's men were arrested and deported back to America as well. My life of being trapped inside the estate and followed everywhere I went at school was over. Akito left the school once again, and we officially started dating. Life was finally going my way, and I couldn't be happier. It had already been a week after the whole incident, and I was smiling again. Akito had insisted after the whole thing went down that I went into therapy, but I knew I'd be fine without it. He and I were a lot closer than we were before, and I even let him hang out in my room with me after he was done with work. He was always good company.

* * *

"Finally!" I said as I let the raven into my room. He sat down on my bed, and I shut the sliding door. I didn't have guards outside my room or window anymore. I jumped onto the bed next to him and lay down, arms sprawled out. He smirked and looked down at me. "How was he meeting?"

"Tiring as always. I found out what happened to the business man that wanted me to be his partner and invest in a bakery."

"Oh yeah? What happened?" I asked. I sat up and crossed my legs as I face him.

"Well he found another partner and built the bakery. However, that bakery is already going out of business."

"Wow, so I made a good decision for you?" I asked. He gave me a nod, which just made my smile grow wider. "Yess!"

"Annabelle, you're really something else." he said, but I noticed the sarcasm in his voice, and the small smile he tried to hide. Even he was able to smile after everything that happened. It wasn't ever much of a smile, but I noticed it. I leaned forward and rested my forehead on the raven's shoulder.

"My mom adores you now. She keeps pressing me to marry you, what a ridiculous thing to ask a high school girl." I laughed.

"Why is that ridiculous?" he asked me. I looked up and tilted my head in confusion.

"What?"

"If you really asked me, I can't say that I'd say no." he said. I could feel my heart begin to race and my cheeks go red.

"Wh..What?" I was beyond taken aback. "Y-you're just saying that to get a reaction out of me." he shook his head.

"No, I'm not. Then again, I'd have to wait until after you got out of high school, and I'd want to get to know you a bit more, but I'd still marry you." I blinked a few times, trying to see if what was happening was real. I never thought he'd say something like that.

"St-stop joking around, Akito." I looked away. He gently grabbed my cheeks with his hands and made me turn back.

"I'm not joking around."

 _Just when I thought my cheeks couldn't get any redder, there he goes again being bold._ "Wh-when did you get so bold?"

"Anna, you have no idea how long I've waited for a woman to come around and catch my attention. Then you waltzed into my life and took me by storm."

"Akito.." I couldn't take my eyes away from him. He was telling me how he felt, after all the fights we had, after trying so hard to get him to really open up about how he felt, here he was doing just that.

"You didn't show me any sign of fear when we first met, or even weeks after that. You were the brave one, the bold one, so now it's my turn to be brave." he stroked my cheek where I was slapped a week ago. "Even after threatening you, you still tried to piss me off and tell me what you thought about everything. I loved that about you. I loved how you could walk into a room and do whatever you wanted without a care about what others thought. No matter how hard I tried to break you, get you to leave, you still stayed. Even after you found out the most precious secret my family hold, you stayed. Even after I... I tried to hurt you, you proved to me that you were able to handle everything I threw at you. I knew from that moment exactly how I felt about you." he inched his face closer to me, but didn't dare kiss me just yet. "Annabelle, I love you. I won't let any other man have you, not even if you decide to leave. There is no escape after all that we've been through."

I've heard a man tell me he loves me before. I've heard a man say that I can't leave him. But this time.. I didn't mind it. I felt blissful, in fact. I knew Akito wasn't going to abuse me, or make me do something I didn't want to. I knew this was the way things were supposed to be, and I knew..

 _I love him._

"Akito, I-" I was caught off guard when he pressed his lips against mine. _Typical Akito, not waiting to hear how I feel before he goes and does that._ I wasn't mad, though. I had been wanting him to kiss me for awhile, ever since I asked him on that wonderful date and he almost kissed me then. I leaned into the kiss, and allowed him to deepen the kiss. His tongue trailed my bottom lip, begging for access. I opened my mouth and let his tongue explore every inch of my mouth. We finally broke away for air after what seemed like forever.

"I'm guessing from that reaction that my feelings are mutual?" he asked. I laughed and nodded my head. He pulled me closer by my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around his neck and lay my forehead into the crook of his neck. "Say it, then." he commanded.

"And if I don't?"

"Well then I won't force it out of you." he said. I hesitated, not knowing if I would be able to say it. After a moment passed, I mustered up the nerves to say it.

"I love you, Akito."


	11. Chapter 11

**It's doneeeeee! I'm so sad now. You guys are butts though for not giving me ANY feedback. But I guess that's okay since I still managed to finish it on my own. No smut, I thought it would be weird at the end soooo yeah. By the way, the wedding... I tried my best. I researched how a trditional japanese wedding would be and kina just went along with it. So yeah, I guess this is goodbye for now. I'll still be around doing stuff, just not posting anything for awhile. My advanced writing teacher, bless her soul, is giving us an assignment that allows me to write fanfiction for our final project! I'm gonna do a kpop one so look out for that! I'm thinking about doing NCT Dream, because why not. They're adorable little children. So yeah, for the last time. Lilly out!**

Two years have passed, and Akito and I have finally decided to get married. It's been a long, tough road, but it's finally time to start my life. My mother was in tears when Akito proposed, happy that her daughter finally found happiness. My father ended up getting deported back to America after having a trial here in Japan. Jake found out about the family secret and questioned my sanity for still wanting to be a part of it. I didn't blame him, but I did have to make sire he didn't tell anyone about it. He only agreed because the raven saved my life on more than one occasion. He appreciated the man, and helped out whenever he could. Derek had become friends with Momiji, who refuses to grow up no matter how old he gets.

Akito's really changed since I first met him. He's nicer to people, especially my brothers and mother, and he takes care of my family as well as his. I've really changed him, he shows his emotions now even though most of them are anger and annoyance.

But anyway, it's the night before the wedding. Everyone is having dinner in the dining hall, and all the zodiacs are there. My closest family flew here for the wedding, and are staying at the main house.

"A toast to the soon to be newlyweds!" Shigure announced. Everyone cheered and clanked their glasses together. Akito had the most annoyed look on his face.

"You're already drunk, Shigure. Remind me again why. allowed you to take care of three teenagers by yourself?" the dog man jumped from his seat.

"W-well, I guess you weren't thinking. Honestly, I never knew either. I'm not very responsible at all. Tohru cooks and cleans every day." Akito scoffed at him, and everyone laughed. No one was scared of the raven anymore and said what they wanted around him as long as it didn't insult me.

"Hey, Anna. We're gonna take Akito to his bachelor party." Ayame said. Drunken Shigure pulled Akito to his feet, and even Hatori joined in dragging the man out of the room.

"Don't wait up~" dog man shouted back at us. Hatori looked back at me.

"I'll make sure he's back before one." he said. I nodded and let them be on their way. Arisa and Tohru grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on, Anna! It's time for your bachelorette party!" the brunette exclaimed. Kagura and Saki joined our little group and dragged me out of the room. I whispered to Jake as I passed him on my way out.

"Make sure no one hugs any zodiacs."

"Alright."

* * *

"Why are we here?" I asked as we entered a candy store. There were walls full of bins, each stuffed full of different kinds of candy. The workers even went through the trouble of sorting them by color.

"We're here to have fun!" the brunette shouted, flailing her arms in the air.

"This is Akito's store, you know." I said. Arisa spoke up.

"That's why we chose it. Now let's raid it and put it on his tab!" the blonde said.

"Hatori called ahead and told them we were coming." Tohru said. I gave her a skeptical look, but ran with them through the store anyway. We went through every single bin, getting small hand fulls of candy and putting them in bags. After we were done with our candy raid, they dragged me to a club with dancing and alcohol. I looked at Arisa.

"This was your idea, wasn't it? All of us are underage." I said. She pulled me to the dance floor and began dancing anyway.

"So we won't drink, we can still dance." she said. She had to shout over all the music. Tohru and Saki stood in the corner of the bar, drinking water that the bartender offered them.

"I just hope we don't get in trouble." I said. The blonde grabbed my shoulders and started swaying me to the beat out the overly loud music.

"Relax and have fun! I've been here before. The bartender knows I'm not old enough to drink yet."

"I just hope Akito is having a good time."

* * *

Akito's POV*

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" everyone shouted. I watched as Shigure finished off an entire keg of alcohol by himself. Hatori stood next to me, silently enjoying the scene despite his poker face.

"This was all Shigure's idea." he said. I looked over at him and gave him the deadliest glare I could manage. I had settled on a small amount of sake the entire time.

"Honestly, a high school party? Who's the idiot that organized this thing? The house and is tiny, there's over a hundred people here, I can hardly even move from this spot."

"Maybe Shigure thought it would be nice to get the high school experience you never had before you settled down and tied the knot." Hatori said. Ayame stepped into our conversation.

"Actually, he just wanted to meet high school girls." the silverette said.

"That makes a lot more sense." I said. Hatori shook his head.

"He will never learn, will he?"

"Excuse me." a female voice called out. I turned my head and came face to face with a blonde girl that looked to be about 16. "Is it okay if I stand here?" she asked. I gave her a slight nod and turned my head back to dog man, disgusted by the amount of alcohol he had consumed by now. "He's pretty amazing, isn't he? Drinking all of that beer and not throwing up yet."

"Amazing isn't the word I'd use." I said.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" she said. I ignored to stupid question and kept my attention elsewhere. I could hear Ayame snickering next to Hatori on my left. "That's okay I guess, I don't really like talkers anyways. I'm Nana."

"And I'm probably almost a decade older than you." I said. I gave her a look that said 'go away', but she instead moved closer to me.

"I don't mind, I like older men." she had the nerve to wrap her arm around mine. _Disgusting._

"I'm engaged, leave me alone." she didn't move a inch, and smiled up at me.

"I won't tell anyone. What the fiancé doesn't know won't hurt her." I finally shook her off me myself. She obviously didn't get the hint that I didn't want her or any other woman. The only woman I want will be walking down the isle tomorrow for me.

"What part of no do you not get?!" I stormed away from her, grabbing Hatori's arm and making sure Ayame came along with us. I shoved my way through the sweaty drunken teenagers and made my way over to Shigure, who was now talking to a couple of girls.

"Wow Gure, you're so cool!" one of them said. The other squealed. I could feel my ears bleeding by the high pitched sound.

"I can't believe I'm meeting a famous author!" the other said.

"That's right, ladies." he was beaming with pride.

"So like, do you have a son our age?" the first one asked. I could hear Ayame chuckle behind me as we finally came to him.

"Yeah, can we meet him? I'd love to date an author's son!" the look of defeat on Shigure's face made even I laugh under my breath.

"Alright, we're leaving." I said. I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of the house. Hatori and Ayame followed closely behind us. Hatori unlocked the car we took from the estate and got inside after opening the door for me. We all climbed into the car and drove off. Shigure whined as we sat in the back.

"I really wanted to get a high school girl.."

"Well maybe if you weren't such a pervert and treated them as students Tohru would have invited her friends over again." I said. I looked out the window as Ayame made fun of Shigure and teased him about being old. _I hope Anna is having fun, because I'm surely not._

* * *

Anna's POV*

Later that night..

I walked into the bedroom Akito and I now shared. I had decided awhile ago to move into his room since he and I slept there together anyway after we got together.I sat down on our bed and took a deep breath. _I'm getting married tomorrow.._

After what happened with Roy in America, I never thought this day would come. _But I'm glad it has._

"Annabelle." a soft voice called out. I looked up and saw my soon-to-be-husband approaching me. I gave him a smile, and patten the spot next to me for him to sit.

"Hey." I said. He sat down in the spot I left for him and took my hand.

"I have something I want to talk about." he wasn't looking me in the eye at all.

"What is it? You're not backing out of the wedding, are you?" I asked him. He immediately shook his head and squeezed my hand.

"No, of course not. I just don't want you having any regrets about this, so I need to get a few things off my chest." he bit his lip hard, trying not to look too worried, but I saw right through it. "I've told you this before, but I'm not going to live as long as most people. That's just what it's like being the god zodiac. I could live another ten or twenty year at most. There's no telling when I'll die. I need to make sure you're okay with that."

"Akito.." I paused to take his other hand in mine and squeeze both of them. "I don't care how long it is I have with you. What's important is the memories we make together and the happiness in being together. I'm ot going to back out of marrying you just because I'm scared that you'll die. Everyone has that fear of their spouse in the back of their mind." I pressed my forehead to his. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You're sure you won't regret this? There's no backing out after tomorrow."

"I'm sure."

* * *

Finally, the day had come. I stood in front of the doors of the shrine I was about to be married in. Jake was standing next to me. Akito had agreed to let him walk me down the isle since my father couldn't, a little Christian twist to a traditional Japanese ceremony. I was marrying into the Sohma family, so we had to have the ceremony at a shrine like a traditional family, but I demanded a few changes to Akito.

"This is your last chance to run for it." the red head said. I turned my head and looked up at him so I could give him a look.

"Isn't this the part where you tell me I look beautiful to make me less nervous?" I asked. He looked down at me and smiled ever so slightly.

"You look beautiful, happy?"

"Very." just as I was done saying that, the doors opened, my cue to start walking. Jake had his arm interlocked with mine, and we waited for the doors to open. I wanted it to start out in a christian way, so the raven and I agreed that Jake walking me down the isle and handing me off to him would be the best we could get without being too nontraditional. The doors opened, pulling me out of my thoughts and bringing my nerves back to surface.

Jake began walking me down the isle, a small amount of family and friends on both sides of the isle. I could see the facial expression on Akito's face as I walked wasn't smiling on the outside, but I could tell that he was internally doing it. I definitely didn't look confident, but once I finally arrived at his side, Jake whispered something into the raven's ear. I heard every word of it.

"Take care of her for me." those words melted all my worries and nerves away. My loving brother was trusting this man that I loved. He was accepting him as a member of our family, as his brother in law, and my husband.

Afterwords, Jake gave me a kiss on my hand and sat down in his seat right up front. He watched as Akito and I both prayed and the priest announced to the shinto gods of our marriage. We drank from the traditional bowls. Three drinks from three sake cups. Each represented something different. The first sake cup represents the heavens showing appreciation to our ancestors. The second one symbolized the earth and a vow to love each other as long as we live. The third represents people and prays for our fertility. Yeah.. awkward.. After that, we exchanged rings. No words were said as we did it, but it was still a very romantic moment. My hands were so shaky, I almost missed his finger as I slipped it on the left ring finger of my beloved. After that the ceremony was over. Akito and I walked down the isle together and I laughed as our family threw rice. It was a beautiful wedding, and even though I was confused at how the whole thing worked at first, I loved it.

Now that we are married, I plan on having a happy life with him, no matter how long he may live. He may not smile much for anyone but me, or say the nicest things. But he is a good person now, he's the person I get to be with from now on. I guess I could say I'm lucky, not because of his money and power, but his heart that I managed to change in the time I have known him. whether or not he shows it, I know he loves me as much as I love him.


End file.
